Posted: Saturday, February 28, 2015
by
Johnny Burnham
NEWINGTON — Some collaborations are simply a win-win for all involved.
That’s the case when it comes to the endeavor that New Britain resident Jared Welcome has spearheaded: linking inmates who want to learn a trade that can turn into a career when released from the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution to those at the Connecticut Humane Society — most notably the cats it has in its possession.
Welcome, an electromechanical expert who was hired by the Department of Corrections to teach the inmates vocational skills, and those in his class at MacDougall-Walker have been producing cardboard cat scratchers and donating them to the Humane Society. The scratchers, Welcome said, are crafted from recycled cardboard by the inmates enrolled in the electromechanical vocational program.
“I have a cat, and my wife, she went and purchased a cat scratcher and spent $15. I thought that there has to be a way to make these. We already have the cardboard accessible. It was just going to go to a recycling facility, so it was incorporated into the class,” he said. “We’re giving 25 a month” to the Humane Society.
The scratchers, the society’s Director of Development Barbara DeBellis Naugle said, certainly benefits the organization as it saves it money, but the more important thing is the benefit the project is having on the animals and the inmates.
The society’s Chris Burgess said the scratchers have allowed more felines the chance to have something to enjoy during their stay at the shelter, in particular those that are sick when they are brought in.
“Now that we have [the scratchers] we can use them in ways we normally wouldn’t have,” he said.
The society’s public relations director, Alicia Wrights, added that there is concrete evidence that a shelter animal having a toy with them significantly reduces their stress level, which in turn leads to better health.
The benefit goes for both the cats and the producers of their new scratch boards.
Welcome said his students are learning how to solve problems, look at issues creatively and prepare themselves for life after prison. That bodes well, both he and MacDougall-Walker Principal Maria Pirro-Simmons said, for everyone.
According to the Department of Corrections, 97 percent of those incarcerated are, at some point, released back into society.
“It’s so important that these guys get academic support, that they’re able to learn a skill,” Pirro-Simmons said. “We want to give them the tools, give them a skill that’s going to give them value so that they can see that they can be a constructive part of society when they’re re-integrated back into the community.”
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That’s the case when it comes to the endeavor that New Britain resident Jared Welcome has spearheaded: linking inmates who want to learn a trade that can turn into a career when released from the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution to those at the Connecticut Humane Society — most notably the cats it has in its possession.
Welcome, an electromechanical expert who was hired by the Department of Corrections to teach the inmates vocational skills, and those in his class at MacDougall-Walker have been producing cardboard cat scratchers and donating them to the Humane Society. The scratchers, Welcome said, are crafted from recycled cardboard by the inmates enrolled in the electromechanical vocational program.
“I have a cat, and my wife, she went and purchased a cat scratcher and spent $15. I thought that there has to be a way to make these. We already have the cardboard accessible. It was just going to go to a recycling facility, so it was incorporated into the class,” he said. “We’re giving 25 a month” to the Humane Society.
The scratchers, the society’s Director of Development Barbara DeBellis Naugle said, certainly benefits the organization as it saves it money, but the more important thing is the benefit the project is having on the animals and the inmates.
The society’s Chris Burgess said the scratchers have allowed more felines the chance to have something to enjoy during their stay at the shelter, in particular those that are sick when they are brought in.
“Now that we have [the scratchers] we can use them in ways we normally wouldn’t have,” he said.
The society’s public relations director, Alicia Wrights, added that there is concrete evidence that a shelter animal having a toy with them significantly reduces their stress level, which in turn leads to better health.
The benefit goes for both the cats and the producers of their new scratch boards.
Welcome said his students are learning how to solve problems, look at issues creatively and prepare themselves for life after prison. That bodes well, both he and MacDougall-Walker Principal Maria Pirro-Simmons said, for everyone.
According to the Department of Corrections, 97 percent of those incarcerated are, at some point, released back into society.
“It’s so important that these guys get academic support, that they’re able to learn a skill,” Pirro-Simmons said. “We want to give them the tools, give them a skill that’s going to give them value so that they can see that they can be a constructive part of society when they’re re-integrated back into the community.”
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