Green Chimneys Has Tea in the Far East

Joseph Whalen and his wife, Mary, enjoy a cup of tea with two of their hosts, Yuko and Yoko, during the Green Chimneys trip to Japan. Educational exchanges between the Brewster and Mahopac School Districts and China have been ongoing for some time, with students and teachers fostering new relationships by visiting each other.

Now, Green Chimneys, an institution that restores possibilities while creating futures for children with emotional, behavioral, social, and learning challenges, is spreading the word in the Far East about the significance of the human and animal bond.

Joseph Whalen, executive director of Green Chimneys, has returned from China and Japan, where he spoke at a series of symposiums sponsored by the Pet Food Institute.

During an interview last week, Whalen explained over the past two decades, China and Japan have experienced a “shift in attitude towards keeping animals as pets. In Japan, citizens have found the cost of living prohibits large families, while in China, population has been government-controlled for years. Smaller families and a surge of economic development have led people to discover pets as a low-cost, cuddly addition to the family.”

Whalen said he discovered a growing interest in the topic of the humananimal bond: “Green Chimneys is well known, not only in the U.S. but around the world, for human-animal bond activities here in Putnam County. Our friends in China and Japan look on Green Chimneys in terms of what we accomplish with children and how we work with animals as inspirational tools. We are placed high on a pedestal. In the U.S. the school is often taken for granted, but our Far Eastern neighbors’ judge people by how the young and elderly are cared for.”

Not long ago parents of children with special needs in the U.S. were at a great disadvantage. Today special education comprises a major component of public schools across America.

Whalen said in both China and Japan “children with disabilities are not considered the responsibility of government or society. The individual family is totally responsible, which makes it difficult for them to provide the needed services. Educators in the Far East now realize that more must be done.”

Whalen was able to teach his hosts about making the world a smaller place: “We have to learn about each other and what people value. We in the U.S. have come a long way in the past 50 years and I’m optimistic that Japan and China can, too.”

Green Chimneys’ farm education coordinator Miyako Kinoshita described the connection between American and Japanese veterinarians, universities, and counseling centers as being strong: “Every time a member of the Green Chimneys community visits Japan, a large number of Japanese veterinarians, students, and interns visit us in return.”

Whalen returned to Putnam with promises of visits to Green Chimneys as well as a list of potential corporate sponsorships with pet food producers. His vision is that one of the world’s major pet food manufacturers such as Purina or Hills will sponsor a research project at Green Chimneys so that the “value of the human-animal bond can be measured and marketed. It never hurts to have scientific proof of something we already know to be a success.”