Colonels want progression in year 2 under Riley
November 15, 2017
NAACP case: Civil Rights icons pledge support for judgeship fight
November 15, 2017
Concern for the suffering of pets condemned to shelters led a Lafourche Parish woman to try and make a difference, by educating children early on the proper care and management of pets.
Now Erica Faulbaum, who since has moved to Shreveport, will be featured with her Pep! Talks routine on the Hallmark Channel, widening the audience she had already cultivated on YouTube. She will appear on Hallmark’s Home and Family show Nov. 20, to talk about her efforts to educate children around the world on pet owning responsibilities.
Erica holds events called PEP! Talks in which she dances in an “animal hero” costume with three puppets, Pinky the pink cat, Rofus the mutt and Mr. Poisson the fish — named after the mascot at South Lafourche High which she attended. With her trio of animal compatriots, Faulbaum teaches children five steps, food, water, shelter, care and love, respectively, of taking care of a pet, “Make it fun and interactive for the kids,” she said, “If it’s not fun, they won’t learn.”
Hallmark learned about Erica from an article written about her in Catster Magazine. She has gained notice in other places too, including a feature recent feature piece in USA Today.
For the education programs, which Erica has conducted in person at various schools and streaming online, she chooses three children to participate. They don dog costumes, each holding a cut-out of a heart: one healthy, one healthy on heartworm medicine, and one with heartworms. Faulbaum moves around the children with a stuffed mosquito, making buzzing noises as the mosquito bites the children. The purpose of the lesson is to teach how heartworms spreads and how heartworm medication can protect pets.
Another prop she uses to help instruct the kids is what she calls her “listening ears.” Small green crowns shaped like cat ears, which are handed out at events, are intended to remind children to be their pets’ eyes and ears.
“Animals have the same feelings as us,” she says to the children. “They just can’t tell us those feelings.”
She also noted that the events and skits don’t just educate the children. She described it as a “trickle up effect,” and said that parents learn from the experience as well.
The idea of creating PEP! came to Erica when she worked at an animal shelter. Watching the number of animals that found homes compared to the staggering number which didn’t bothered her. One day when a family arrived with a box of kittens, whose mother was hit by a car, Faulbaum taught them how to bottle feed the kittens. The family kept the kittens and Faulbaum knew she wanted to continue to be proactive and stop pets from arriving at shelters. So in late March of 2009, PEP! was born.
“I am a cat lady at heart,” she said, disclosing her pet preference. “I love big fluffy cats.”
The television appearance, Erica said, will hopefully help her future attempts to get the importance of caring out.
Some pet toys and a smartphone app are in the works.
“One day that’s the goal, she said.
“PEP! is my passion and I’m thrilled that millions of people will learn all the great work we are doing to inspire kids to be animal heroes”, said Erica. “The experiences I had growing up in colorful south Louisiana has inspired just about every one of our programs in some way.”
Her experience with the tarpon at South Lafourche High, she said, is one example of how growing up in Cajun country influenced her vision.
“I’m a proud Cajun and I truly don’t believe that PEP! would be here today if it wasn’t for where I was born and raised.”
Daily Mail, CBS Nightly News, People, Catster, and other national publications. She has national endorsements with several companies including STAINMASTER, KONG, and NYLABONE. She is also the author of “PEP! Squad, The 5 Steps to a Happy and Healthy Pet.”
She estimates that through social media she has educated over 500,000 children worldwide.
PEP!’s mission is to reduce the number of animals entering shelters. The organization now has nine national chapters in partnership with rescues and shelters all across the country.
Updates on air times for the show can be obtained through PEP’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/peteducationproject or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/peteducationproject. The group’s website is www.ilovepep.org.
The Home and Family Show is hosted by Mark Steines and Debbie Matenopoulos, offering viewers advice and information on home improvement, parenting, and health. The show originates from a fully functioning New England colonial-style home that was built on the Universal Studios lot, with each room of the house being used to show everything from how to buy a week’s worth of groceries for $100 to growing organic fruits and vegetables. Steines and Matenopoulos participate in roundtable discussions with experts from various fields, with celebrities occasionally participating to provide answers to viewers.
