how it started

CHAMPS (Children Against Mines Program), a student-lead program of The Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI), began in 2002 when Diana Enzi, wife of Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming, heard about the Adopt-A-Dog Program, where Corporations adopt/sponsor Mine Detection Dogs (MDD’s) and deploy them to mine-affected countries around the world. She believed that if school children could learn about the mine issue, had the chance to see a real MDD in action in a simulated minefield demonstration, and was offered the opportunity to affect change in the world they would respond with a resounding YES!! And she was right. That year Diana led a CHAMPS Campaign across Wyoming which resulted in the first student-sponsored deployment of a highly skilled MDD to Sri Lanka. Wyoming “sniffs mines” and saves lives, a gift from the students of Wyoming to the children of Sri Lanka.

Three years later, in January 2005, in partnership with the US Department of State, MLI officially launched CHAMPS across the United States and hired Kimberly McCasland who is the Vice President of Children's Programs and Victims Assistance programs for the Marshall Legacy Institute. In November 2007 the 14th CHAMPS dog was funded. School children have taken the exciting opportunity to extend the tradition of civic leadership by joining other students in schools around the nation in adopting their very own MineDetection Dog. Schools, Girl Scouts, and private families in Arizona,Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and more have joined Wyoming in this incredible venture.

About Our Programs

• Students in the United States run Campaigns to raise funds for mine victim’s medical needs.


• International students identify and befriend mine victims in their communities/schools.


• US and International students meet virtually at least monthly using Skypecasts. Students visit each others countries.

To date, CHAMPS International Campaigns have raised funds to help mine victims in the country their dog is serving. But, this program is not limited to schools that have sponsored dogs. Working in partnership with CHAMPS Patron Joan Wismer, the US Department of State, and the International Trust Fund, any school can join in the effort to help mine victims!

By going to www.skype.com schools can download software which will allow them to log into monthly scheduled CHAMPS Skypecasts. Schools in the US and schools in Bosnia Herzegovina have been given webcams, donated by Joan Wismer, to facilitate these meetings. Discussions will include, but not be limited to, the global landmine crisis and how it affects mine-affected countries, landmine victims, and how everyone can help.

Objectives

To provide the students of the United States and in Bosnia Herzegovina with:

• Education about the worldwide landmine crisis and its effects


• The experience of helping landmine victims


• The understanding of their role in the global community


• A unique project to fulfill community service requirements


• The opportunity to develop their leadership skills by assisting others

 

 

Spotlight on our Student Leaders

In each Campaign young leaders have emerged. Teachers were asked to identify those students who took a leadership role in their Campaign, participated in most if not all of the fundraising events, and encouraged others to join in the effort.These teacher-nominated student leaders, in recognition and as a reward, have joined other donors on MLI sponsored Donor Delegation Trips traveling to the mine-affected country where their dogs are serving. Meeting their dogs, seeing dogs working in the field, meeting government officials who run the mine action program, and meeting other student leaders who live in that country were only some of the events the students participated in. And the results have been incredible.

Ambassador Bisera Turkovic, Bosnian Ambassador to the United States in Washington, DC, while attending a CHAMPS Workshop in Washington, requested a meeting of these young American student leaders with her student leaders in Bosnia Herzegovina while on the Donor Delegation Trip. During this meeting the students shared their ideas, feelings and amazement at just how much they were alike. “It is amazing to me that you, you who do not know us, would spend so much time to raise such a large amount of money to help us here in Bosnia Herzegovina...to help us get rid of these landmines, and we are not helping ourselves.” This statement by one young lady from the Catholic Center School in Sarajevo was what led to the formation of the CHAMPS International Program.