Rowan: On a Mission for Dolphins

Rowan holding up pictures of Winter the dolphin

Last week, on a rainy day with nothing to do, we watched one of our library movies, "Dolphin Tale." Rowan has been telling me how dolphins are her favorite animal now, so I thought she might like this one. It turned out to be a wonderful family movie (like one I could tolerate and even enjoy watching too). It is the story of a boy who finds a dolphin washed up on the beach in Florida with a rope and some sort of trap wrapped around it's tail. He uses his pocket-knife to cut the rope, and some people from a marine mammal hospital arrive and take the dolphin back to their center. The boy visits the dolphin often and they form a special bond. The dolphin, named Winter, has to have it's tail amputated, but eventually they find someone willing to design a prosthetic tail, and she can swim again.

At the end of the movie, we found out this is all based on a true story. I thought Rowan was going to come unglued with glee when she found out that Winter actually exists, and it is possible that she might visit this dolphin someday. We went to the website for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and found out that they have a live webcam where you can watch Winter swimming. You can also "adopt" Winter and donate money to help with her care--and if you do, you receive monthly updates about the dolphin as well as a photo, etc.

Rowan immediately decided she wanted to set a goal of raising enough money to get mail from Winter, which costs $50. We brainstormed a bit to come up with a way for her to raise the money and decided on an art sale. She has spent the last week making a variety of drawings and paintings and telling all the grown-ups in her life the story of Winter and how she has decided to help this dolphin. All I can say is if she ever joins the Girl Scouts, she is going to kick butt in cookie sales. She is like this mini marketing maven. The kid has already raised most of the money in under a week. Of course, when she tells her grandparents and aunts and uncles and the neighbors that the paintings are 3 dollars they tend to give her a few extra to help with the cause, and we donated the contents of the family change jar. I just love seeing this ethic of helping out a good cause blossoming in her. The other day out of nowhere she told me she wants to volunteer at the animal shelter for her birthday party this year...we'll see if it actually materializes, but the fact that she would consider it at age four makes this mama proud!