I hope everyone had a good Valentines Day!!!

                                                                          &

                                   Wishing everyone a happy Easter!!! 

     Mark and I have had a really rough time since the New Year began. We have lost two of our very special fur babies and within one month of one another. First our precious Spike, to an illness that took him from us on January 3rd and then we lost our sweet Mini to a splenic tumor on February 7th. We are now down 5 registered teams if you take into account Mark and I were both registered with Spike and Mini and then Sandy Knight's sweet Bella passed in December. I have had a difficult time getting and staying motivated. 

     I am very sorry to also have to share with everyone that one of our members, Barbara Harden, joined her Lord and her loved ones already in heaven on Saturday evening, February 24, 2018. Barbara and her beloved dog, Charlye, loved their volunteer work with Paws Patrol and were a very dedicated team before the cancer took control of her life. They will be dearly missed by Paws Patrol and so many who lives they touched. Her husband, Richard Harden, although he operates mostly behind the scene, has been a very active part of Paws Patrol and is responsible for our website that he and Marty established prior to Marty's passing. We are deeply grateful to Richard for all he has done for Paws Patrol. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers!

    On a more pleasant note, we are not only ecstatic, but also very proud to say that Paws Patrol-Pet Partners sponsored, supported and helped to raise $10,000.00 toward the purchase of Bruno, the seizure alert service dog for Laura Golden. Sue Hite and Donna Franklin were key to arranging, organizing and running the Puppy Love Run. In case you don't know, Laura Golden is a local Albany resident that suffers from Epileptic Seizures. Bruno will not only be able to alert Laura when she is about to have a seizure, but he will also provide protection for her during her seizures and allow her to attend college safely and independently. Bruno is a rescue dog that has been being trained in Arizona. We will be presenting a check for $10,000.00 to Laura at our Semi Annual meeting scheduled for Sunday, March 18th. Bruno and Laura's mother, Juanita will also be attending our Semi Annual Meeting and we are so excited to meet Bruno. We hope everyone will come and help us celebrate this very special occasion. We have been informed that WALB may also be attending and if this is the case then we may change the location to a more suitable public place. I will keep everyone posted of any changes.

     We are also inviting a few potential members to our Semi Annual Meeting as well. Please plan on attending and helping us to welcome these potential new teams.

    Phoebe facilities have had us on hold with our visitations due to such a heavy flu outbreak this year. I believe that we may resume our visits in April, but this is not yet confirmed. I will send out an email when I am notified and begin posting our Phoebe facility visits back on our calendar. 

    One of our teams made a special visit to Lee County School, Leigh Windham with Robert had a great time visiting some of the students. I have gotten nothing but positive feedback about there visit. Also, while visiting at Aspire this week, one of the students was telling us all about meeting Robert (the really big dog) during a library visit. We are making a difference and touching lives on every visit we make! Thank you to all of our teams for your time and promoting physical, emotional and mental health through the human-animal bond. Lets make 2018 a great year by stepping up our participation in these scheduled visits!!

    Beverly Nichols, Paula Patterson and I held evaluations on February 24th and we are very pleased to welcome two new teams to our group, Prudence Milner with her golden, Buzz and Donna Franklin with Barkly!!!! Congratulations to Prudence and Buzz, and Donna Franklin and Barkly, we look forward to visiting with both of these new teams!!! 

    We will be having another evaluation on Saturday March 10th at Easter Seals. We could use some help with these evaluations if you are available please sign up to assist. We only have a couple of teams to evaluate so we will begin around 9:45 and should be finished before 1:00. I have scheduled another Workshop for Sunday afternoon April 8th. Please encourage any potential friends or family that you think might make a good team to sign up for this Workshop.

Happy Birthday to our February and March Birthdays! 

Amy Jones, Mac Walters, Jessica Andrews, Fran Clinkscales, Betty Livingston, Amy Heidt and Prudence Milner!!!