Wally will get his dog in JULY! Here's more info and how you can help...

 

Our Family is Growing!

(and no it's not a baby)

     A little over two years ago, Charles and I took Wally to the ECAD (Educated Canines Assisting the Disabled) training facility in Connecticut for an interview. We had been accepted into their program that provides service dogs for kids on the Autism Spectrum. After a couple hours there interacting with Lou, the program director, and a few of her dogs that were in training, we went home confident that a service dog would   
be a huge help to Wally and our family. We soon learned that we were able to move on to the next stage in the process, fundraising.

                                                                                                         Wally at ECAD in 2021

    Because of many of YOU and your generosity, after one full year we completed raising the $25,000 necessary to train the dog (ECAD covers the other $25,000 of the funding needed). And then the waiting began. With several other families and individuals ahead of us, we knew that it might be a year or more before Wally would get his dog. We were elated to hear this winter that his turn was coming in July!  Because the service dog is a highly trained "employee" in many ways, we also need to be trained in how to work with it. From July 12-20 this summer, I will be at the ECAD training facility learning all about how to work with and care for the service dog. Then from the 21-26th, Charles and Wally will join me for several more days of working with the dog and Wally. We will graduate from the program on July 26th and bring our new family member home!
     While the fundraising aspect to cover the training of the dog is completed, we do still need some help to cover our expenses during the Team Training this summer and to purchase necessary items for our dog. We will need to pay for childcare while we are away and to cover our meals while we are there at the training for two weeks. You can give via

• our GoFundMe page here https://gofund.me/cebc387d
• directly to me through Venmo or PayPal @kimberlyfick
• send us giftcards from Chewy.com or Amazon.com to purchase needed items for doggo.