Young Voices Heard
Young advocates are a powerful force in our movement. We saw evidence of this last week, when two teenage boys testified at an Oregon Senate hearing to help toughen penalties for dogfighting. Oregon State Rep. Brian Clem said it best to the Statesman Journal: "This is the greatest thing. The advocacy from these students will make the chances of it passing in the House go up 100 percent."
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When The HSUS locks arms with our rank-and-file supporters to speak out against cruelty, the voices of our young advocates give us vitality and renew our commitment to the future. We rally their support through action alerts in our online offerings just for kids, teens, and humane educators. They are essential to our success, as well as to our future.
Just consider another recent event. Untold thousands—no doubt, millions—of Americans sounded their outrage in the aftermath of The HSUS’s recent undercover investigation of slaughter plant cruelty to dairy cows. In this awful case, nobody had a bigger stake than young people. Much of the meat from these sick, injured and horribly mistreated cows was headed straight for their school cafeterias under the National School Lunch Program.
Below are just a few of the comments we received from students who spoke up. To them I say: I am so proud of you. Keep it up.
I wrote a letter to the USDA Secretary about stopping the abuse of sick and injured cows. I also asked them to stop feeding it to us at lunch. —Dade
I’m aware and concerned of the downed cows getting put in my peers’ and my own school lunch plate. And I am sending this letter because I am against this and believe this is wrong and gross. —Ariel
It is a disgusting feeling knowing that we are eating downed cows, so sick they can barely walk. —Jaycelin
While actively engaging caring kids in our work is crucial, The HSUS works just as hard to educate those young people who don’t know what it means to properly care for a pet, respect their wild neighbors, or extend compassion to animals used for food. Each month of the school year, our KIND News classroom newspaper is read in 35,000 classrooms nationwide. You can bring KIND News to your community by sponsoring the classroom of your choice through the Adopt-a-Classroom program. It’s a great way to pass on a humane ethic to tomorrow’s generation in your area while alerting them to the many ways they can make their voices heard, too.
