Who You Help

Ottawa Humane Society

Brightening Lives Animal Visits Program

Pets and people are a great mix. Animals provide companionship when we are lonely, incentive for exercise and they help relieve stress in our busy lives. But many in our community are unable to experience the joy an animal can bring. Luckily, the Ottawa Humane Society (OHS) is there to ensure the human–animal bond is available to even the most isolated among us.

A woman responds to Junebug, a visiting dog in the Ottawa Humane Society’s Brightening Lives Program.

Brightening Lives is an animal visiting program where OHS volunteers visit more than 60 long-term care facilities to provide animal visits to residents. Volunteers take owned dogs and shelter cats to various residential settings such as hospitals, retirement homes and rehabilitation centers so the residents can benefit from animal contact. The animals provide an essential companionship service by bringing joy to those they visit and by helping people to defeat loneliness and increase their self-esteem.

The 500+ visits made every year are meaningful and often emotional for the residents. For example, when the OHS visiting team arrives at Ottawa’s Ogilvie Manor, they’re greeted by smiling faces. One woman sits in the same chair at the same time each month, eagerly awaiting her turn to see the animals. After she’s had her fill petting the dogs, she waits again — this time to say goodbye to the animals before they leave.

At Carleton Lodge, the dog visits inspire peals of laughter from one elderly Alzheimer’s patient who is not able to speak.

The Debra Dynes Family House

The Debra Dynes Family House is committed to improving the quality of life for children and youth who are low income and working poor, through a range of services and programs. Here is an example of a child whose life has been touched by the Debra Dynes Family House.  Your donations will help children like Regine.

The Story of Regine Doirin

When a program really meets people’s needs, children like Regine flourish and change the lives of those in their own community.

Regine attended the family house where homework can be done in an environment of hope and assistance.  She focused on getting good grades and staying in school  Inspired to help others succeed, Regine has become a youth leader, volunteer, facilitator and spokesperson for her underprivileged community.

In 2009 Regine graduated from college as a child and youth worker.  She is now employed by the organization that helped her become the young woman she is today - the Debra Dynes Family House. Regine is currently a community youth and outreach worker at the Family House.

ArtsSmarts

ArtsSmarts program are currently taking place in Ottawa.  Here is an example of the type of prgramming ArtsSmarts delivers.

What is water?  What is a human catastrophe?  What is a natural catastrophe?  How does human activity influence our environment? These BIG questions were investigated by grade 5 and 6 students at St. Mary's Elementary School during a 10-month ArtsSmarts project.

Traveling back in time to begin with the Seven Years' War, students explored the ecological impact of human and natural disasters in a series of events centred around the theme of water.  Over the entire school year, students created a 45-minute multimedia puppet theatre megaproduction. The students' research on wars, oil spills, earthquakes, hydroelectric dams and hurricanes was used to develop a script and produce a theatrical production, Aquaventure, to reflect the subject matter.

Giant puppets were fashioned from recycled materials in the form of water creatures like jellyfish and sharks.  As students built the puppets to tell the story of what happens below the water's surface when an ecological disaster hits, conversations were sparked on habits of consumption.  Watercolour illustrations of a pirate ship were central to the creation of a short animated film.  Students acquired skills in computer technology and simultaneously used creative thinking methods and media literacy to communicate the social and environmental impact to their audience.

Our partner Riverside School Board brought artists Christine Battuz, Martine Bertrand, Elise Morin and Marc Sauvageau together with teachers Eric Boutin and Francois Couture to collaborate on the multi-stage development of this project.

The students at St. Mary's Elementary School thrive in this cross-curricular creative learning environment.  Through Aquaventure, the students brought history, science and language arts to life using animation, pupptery, fine arts, script writiting, dance, music composition and drama.  Complex and dynamic ArtsSmarts projects such as these engage students and enrich their learning experiences.