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Bradley Howells

Professor Niccols

LA 400 01: Senior Sem.

21 November 2019

Santa Paws for a Cause: Social Action Project

After many ideas and several plan changes, our class decided to focus on mental health

awareness for our Social Action Project. Specifically, in doing so, we decided that we wanted to

incorporate and utilize therapy dogs for our project. Therapy dogs are a good resource to those

struggling with negative mental health because they provide healing aspects through their touch

and behavior. With this in mind, we were determined to educate individuals on campus on the

benefits of therapy dogs in coping with mental illness. In order to carry out the project, we

decided that we would create a backdrop where individuals could take photographs with the

therapy dogs, talk to individuals about the benefits of therapy dogs for mental health, hand out

informational brochures to individuals who stop by on the benefits of therapy dogs as well as the

organization that registers dogs as therapy dogs, and sell dog treats and dog-themed stickers with

proceeds going to the organization discussed in the brochure. However, the individuals who own

the therapy dogs that spend time on campus were not able to provide their support animals for

the event. Even with this setback, we carried out our project in the same way we had attended but

without the therapy dogs present.

Our project directly relates to the Catholic Social Teaching theme of Life and Dignity of

the Human Person. The Catholic Church teaches that, with this theme in mind, human life is

sacred and created in the likeness and image of God. In addition, because of this, individuals are

taught that the dignity of the human person is the starting point to a moral vision for society,
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therefore everyone must honor and give glory to God by honoring, respecting, and giving

priority to all human beings (“Catholic Social Teaching - Catholic Charities”). In the brochure

we handed out to individuals who stopped by our booth in Lowe Dining Hall on Tuesday,

November 19th, it stated the benefits of therapy dogs. Some of these benefits include decreasing

blood pressure and physical pain, decreasing feelings of isolation and anxiety, improving motor

skills and confidence, and providing comfort and support. This shows that people all around us

on a daily basis suffer in various ways, for individuals may have high blood pressure, physical

pain, anxiety, decreased or ineffective motor skills and thoughts of low self-worth. Many of

these illnesses or disabilities hinder those suffering from fully participating in society because

they are medically not able to, therefore they become distant in society because they need extra

support in able to get through the day. Like everyone else, God made these individuals in His

image and likeness. It is our moral duty to support these individuals and make them aware of the

resources that are available to help them feel better because they, as people, are worthy of honor

and respect; this being the foundation of the Catholic Social Teaching Principle Life and Dignity

of the Human Person. Our way of discussing this topic and proposing support was implemented

through our social actions.

For this project, I chose to become part of the decorating group. Knowing that we would

be setting up either in the dining hall or the enclosed archway outside of the dining hall, Hannah

and I scoped the area to determine a location in which we would set up our backdrop for the

photo booth. We also wanted to get a rough idea of how much space we had to work with so we

knew how many supplies were needed. We chose the fireplace in the dining hall as the location.

After this, Hannah, Nicole, and I went shopping at Big Lots and Walmart to search for

decorations we thought would look good, and we purchased some. On my own, I went back to
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Big Lots and then to Aldi for a few last minutes supplies we wanted on Monday evening. For the

artificial fire we wanted to create in the fireplace, I brought some wood from my back yard. This

was the only thing I brought that I did not spend money on. On Tuesday morning, I met my

colleagues in the dining hall to assist in the decoration process. Throughout the time of the event,

I stopped at the table for updates. Since the class took turns working the table in half-hour time

slots, I worked the table for the last half hour, selling our products and encouraging participation

at the photo “booth.” I then assisted my colleagues in tearing down our decorations. Before the

day of the event, I knew it was essential to make sure everyone was signed up to work the booth

and that everyone was aware of who was working the booth at all given times. Since many

classmates did not utilize the time sign-up sheet that was sent by email, I chose to write the times

of the event out on the board before class so people could sign up to ultimately get that battle

under control. Perhaps that was a bad idea because the screen and screen case for the projector

came out of the wall and landed on my head.

Overall, I believe that our event went very well. I very much enjoyed helping to design

our Christmas theme and working with Hannah, Nicole, Paige, and Jacque. We all relied on each

other and took each other’s ideas into consideration. I felt that our fireplace design was cozy.

Without a doubt, since I love dogs, the idea of bringing dogs to our event was my favorite part. It

was a great idea. I definitely was not happy when we were told that they would not be coming,

for they were the driving inspiration. They would have given the event more life and drawn more

people to our table. It was not right that they bailed on us, however, we worked with the flow. A

wish of mine would have been for more interaction between who was working the table and who

walked past in order to invite people over. Many of the treats and stickers were sold. Those who

stopped learned from us. In the end, if what we did helped only one person, we were successful.
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Works Cited

“Catholic Social Teaching - Catholic Charities.” Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis,

https://www.cctwincities.org/education-advocacy/catholic-social-teaching/.