Summer has arrived, high temps and humidity!!

               Please be sure to carry water for your fur babies and be mindful of the hot asphalt! 

     I apologize that I have been sooooo busy with a wedding and losing two pups of my own, not to forget the great loss of Bella, Sandy Knight's sweet pup and Leigh Windham's, sweet Robert's Achilles injury and Mandy has been down with an infection! This has all happened since December 2017 and the beginning of the year for me, has been a very difficult one! But with that said, things are looking up on my end and I am more than ready to pour my heart and soul into our mission and moving forward. I currently am staying very busy with three young dogs/pups! All have great potential for becoming therapy dogs. Sandy Knight misses being part of our group also and she adopted an abandoned miniature male poodle from the Albany Humane Society and we have high hopes that they will soon be joining us again at the libraries. We miss Sandy so much and she was such a blessing to our group! Please keep her and her new fur baby in your thoughts and prayers!

     Our summer calendar is a little lighter and so we are able to participate in some special summer camps and summer children's programs. We participated in Aspire's Summer Camp at the Park in Sylvester during June and they were a great group of children. We talked about therapy dogs vs. service animals, animal safety and our Paws Patrol-Pet Partners mission. We will be visiting the Lee County library on Thursday, June 28th for their special children's summer program and again at the Oakland Library Branch on Thursday, July 17th. We need as many teams that are available, never too many teams for these events. Please consider joining us on these special visits.

     Unfortunately, we have had to cancel a few visits recently and that is something I do not like to have to do, but sometimes we have to put our volunteer work aside and take care of ourselves and our families. We are not good company for our clients if our animals or ourselves are not in good a place or in good health. As we well know, by many of the clients that we visit, quality vs. quantity frequently is a choice we have to make in our lives. Canceling a visit is something that none of us like to do, but sometimes is a necessity! Mandy and Robert are in our thoughts and prayers with their recent illnesses and injuries and we wish them a speedy recovery! They are missed so much!!!

     We are excited to welcome  these new members into our group, Karen Martin with Baxter (a Teacup Yorkie), Rachel Durough with Elvis (Shih Tzu) and Marilyn Morgan with Brady (long haired Chihuahua). Karen and Baxter have already made a couple of visits and are doing great! Rachel and Marilyn have received their badges from PP and are ready to get started. 

     We have been busy raising money and have purchased embroidered and collared polo shirts from Pro-1 in three different colors, white, turquoise and fusia. We are giving each new member  a shirt, a set of magnets and a bandanna for their animal to get started with visits. If you would like to purchase an additional shirt the cost is $18.00. We are looking into the cost of purchasing bookmarks with a photo and information about our animal to share with folks on our visits. Thank you to Prudence Milner for investigating this and getting us a price sheet. I will following up with more information soon.

      Camp Good Grief is scheduled for Saturday, October 13th, please save the date. We take shifts spending the day on the grounds of Willson Hospice House with youth from 11 different counties who have suffered from the loss of loved one. These children are referred through their churches, schools, counselors and teachers. It is a fun and quite rewarding day, we look forward to each fall. 

      We have scheduled another date for evaluations on Sunday afternoon, August 5th. Please check your badges expiration date and if you expire in September 2018, please be sure to sign up for a renewal. Also, please remember to give a copy of your Pet Partner badge to Phoebe Volunteer Services to keep on file. I am holding another Workshop for anyone interested on Sunday, August 19th. Please let me know if you know anyone that might be interested in attending.

     We will be taking August off for visits so I am thinking that would be a great time to have our next Semi-Annual meeting. I have tentatively set the date for Sunday afternoon August 26th, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, please save the date. I am flexible so please let me know if this works with your schedules? We have a lot to discuss and I am hoping that everyone can make it.

Wishing a Happy Birthday to our July and August Birthdays!!!! 

July-Marilyn Morgan

August-Beverly Nichols and Becky Mills