Some of the Best Friends on VISIONS High School Summer Programs
The Kaa Wa’Pomaakaa Society (four-legged friends amongst us) on the Montana Blackfeet Indian Reservation was founded in 2010 by one of VISIONS long-time partners, Darrell Kipp. The Society has provided assistance to hundreds of strays, including food, dog houses, and straw to keep the animals warm during cold Montana winters. They also run a mobile spay and neuter clinic with volunteer veterinarians who visit the rez three times a year, and have neutered thousands of dogs.
Rez dogs are a special breed. They can exemplify the best of two worlds: a wild, free existence as strays, and the kind, affectionate personalities of house pets. Kaa Wa’Pomaakaa also arranges adoptions in outlying communities, resulting in a noticeable decline in the number of stray dogs on the reservation.
VISIONS teens and leaders have played their part, too. Almost every summer, a few four-legged friends board planes with their new human friends to make a new home with a VISIONS participant and their family. The adoptions date back 25 years already, since our first summers working on the reservation.
Here, some pictures of teens and leaders with their adopted friends.
