HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

      We are off to a rough start for this new year, with all of the flu that is going around we have had to cancel many visits. All of the Phoebe Facilities have canceled our visits until further notice. As soon as we get clearance from Volunteer Services I will begin posting them to our calendar. I know Betty Livingston was recently hospitalized with pneumonia and now Sandy Knight's husband, David is in the hospital with pneumonia. Please keep these folks in your thoughts and prayers.

     It has been a really sad beginning to 2018 with the loss of two of our precious little therapy dogs, Sandy Knight's Bella and also, our little Spike. They both died suddenly from something they had ingested. Bella passed in December and Spike passed on January 3rd. Needless to say, Sandy and I have been devastated and it has been very difficult to keep moving forward. Thank you to everyone for your patience and those who have shared there condolences with the two of us and our families. It not only has been devastating to us humans, but also to the other animals in our family. Bella was only six and Spike was only five, way to young. Both, Bella and Spike were loved so much and touched many hearts in their short lives, they will be deeply missed by so many! R.I.P. sweet babies!

     Because we are a 501(c)3 charitable non-profit, we are excited and pleased to be sponsoring the PUPPY LOVE RUN for Laura Golden. Laura has Epileptic Seizures and needs a Service Dog in order to safely attend college. I hope everyone will come out and participate. We will have a table set up to raffle off a gift basket and a couple of generous gift certificates donated by a local business and giving information out to anyone interested in joining Paws Patrol-Pet Partners. Sue Hite, a good friend of Donna Franklin's, and Donna are doing a great job of organizing and managing this event. Paws Patrol is sponsoring and promoting this event and we hope that we have a huge turnout. Bruno is a rescue dog from Arizona and is being trained to be a Seizure Alert Service Dog who will not only be able to alert Laura prior to a seizure, but will also provide protection for her during a seizure. All of the monies raised for this event will go to the purchasing of this special Service dog. Please come out and support this awesome pair.

    We have a Whiz Kids visit on the calendar for Wednesday, January 31, 2018 and we really need more teams to sign up for this after school group of grade school students and the volunteers that tutor these children. They look so forward to our visits. We will need to arrive at the Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2126 Edgewater Dr., Albany, GA by 2:45 and we will be finished by 3:45 pm. We will give a brief introduction and then the children will read to the dogs. I have books about therapy animals and service animals that I bring along.

   We held a workshop on January 21st and hope to soon be welcoming two new teams to our group, Prudence Milner with her Golden and Natalie Levinsohn with her bunnie. We have scheduled an evaluation for Saturday, February 24th. Beverly Nichols and I will be the evaluators. Please check your expiration dates and sign up if you are due to expire the end of March, 2018. 

Please continue to keep Barbara Harden, Virginia Gray and their families in your thoughts and prayers!! 

Happy Birthday this month to Leigh Windham!!