Kids, Animals, Life and Dreams

 Inspired by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a local Tucson woman quit work, sold her house and created her own non-profit organization.

Kids, Animals, Life and Dreams (K.A.L.D.) is the dream of founder, Mona Hand. K.A.L.D. is an organization that provides recreational animal therapy to seriously ill children and foster children. Hand sold her original home and bought one that could house horses, mini donkeys and goats for her program.

Horse used to in EAL. Photo by Frank Hand

“I have been involved with many different organizations,” said Mona Hand, founder of K.A.L.D. “I realize that there was a need for terminally ill children to be able to come outside and see the healing power of our animals.”

In 2002, K.A.L.D. offered this service only to seriously ill children but the program received a small amount of visitors because of the difficulties to bring kids out to the animals.

“We had to evolve,” said Hand. “Sometimes circumstances have to be tweeked so I found another set of people who could benefit from our program.”

Hand started working with Devereux Arizona, a non-profit agency that provides foster homes throughout the United States. Hand volunteered her time with an all girls group home and received her respite certification.

“Once I went into the home I realized that these weren’t your typical kids,” said Hand. “They didn’t have any afternoon activities or a way to express their interest.”

It was here that K.A.L.D. expanded. Various volunteers have taught the kids to scuba dive, sew and ballroom dance. The organization has facilitated internships and volunteer opportunities with Greyhound rescues and the United Way, so the girls will have philanthropic experience to include on their résumés.

“I try to facilitate the interest of these girls,” said Hand. “I also want to make sure these girls have an interest in themselves and better themselves.”             

Hands main goal is still to utilize animal therapy to develop life skills, and to teach self-sufficiency. K.A.L.D. uses Equine Assisted Learning (EAL), which combines the use of horses and certain activities to build confidence.

Halter placed on a horse backwards. Photo by Mona Hand

“Some kids in foster care aren’t able to trust people because it’s never long term. But an animal, they can trust and love,” said Hand. “When girls first come here some of them have never seen a farm animal. EAL puts the girls in a situation to interact with these animals and each other.”

One of the activities the girls perform is to put a halter on a horse. The goal of the exercise is for the girls to do something they have never done before, without being told if they put the halter on the right or wrong way.

 K.A.L.D. collaborates with many different organizations throughout Tucson to facilitate workshops for the kids. Currently they have three volunteers but are looking for more.

“We love to have volunteers with something to teach these girls,” said Hand. “They have to be willing to commit their time for the girls but they also need to bring something to the table.”

Through these collaborations and volunteers, K.A.L.D.’s goal is to turn these girls into role models and mentors for other children.   If you would like to donate time or money please email Mona at kaldoftucson@yahoo.com.

 More on E.A.L

Literacy Volunteers of Tucson

If you are able to read this blog, analyze it and compare it to other material then you possess a skill that 43 percent of the nations’ population that do not have, the ability to read.  

“A lot of adults in Tucson, of different cultures, do not know how to read or write English,” said Melisa DeNinno, Communications and Volunteer Coordinator for the Literacy Volunteers of Tucson (LVT).”

LTV is a non-profit agency that is dedicated to teaching adults to read and write English through two kinds of semester long classes.  The classes are free, are specialized for adults who read at or below a sixth-grade level, and are held in groups at LTV 23 different centers, four days a week. 

The sign Literacy Volunteers of Tucson outside their office at 2850 E Speedway.

The first class is a Basic  Literacy program for English speakers who need to improve their reading and writings skills. This section of classes is taught one-on-one a few times a week. The second class is called English Language Acquisition for Adults. The class is designed for adults whose first language is not English.

““Tucson has a huge refugee population who are not native English speakers,” said DeNinno. “We work with the very basic of students. Many of our classes fill up quickly.”

In the last three years LTV has seen its student triple in size to over 1,700 but the growth has made LTV reach its capacity. LTV has over 400 volunteers but only 8 full time members due of the lack of funding.

 LTV is not a State funded program which makes it so that they have to raise their own funding through fundraising and donators

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“Currently we have around 900 donors,” said DeNinno. “The building we are in now was actually donated so we could run our operation for the next three years.”

If LTV were able to raise more funding then they could create more centers, hire more staff and get a permitted space.  In addition, LTV would be able to train more volunteers.

“We need committed volunteers,” said DeNinno. “It costs us around 350 dollars to train our volunteers. We are searching for volunteers who are on board with are vision and can commit a year to this experience and are committed to making a change.”

If you would like to learn more information or volunteer then please attend LTV’s open house on Friday, February 5 from 3-6pm at 2850 E Speedway. You can also make donations at http://www.lovetoread.org/index.html.