Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Individual Thank You's

There's generally a long lag time between when donations come in and when we get our list of donors. Even after we get our next donor list, I don't think we'll ever know all of the people who helped us along the way.

Below is an incomplete and imperfect thank you list. We're leaving off last names, for privacy reasons. I didn't include duplicate names, so a number of these actually count as multiple people. (And sorry if we missed you for some reason!)

Even taking all of that into account, please note the length of the list below...

Thank you:

Abby
Abigail
Aiden
Aimee
Airionna
Alan
Alex
Alexa
Alexis
Allanair
Allen
Alysen
Alyson
Amanda
Amber
Amy
Andie
Andrew
Angel
Angie
Anna
Anthony
Arie
Asher
Ashlee
Ashley
Ashton
Autumn
Barbara
Becky
Ben
Bennett
Billie
Billy
Blake
Bob
Brady
Brandi
Brandon
Breanna
Brenda
Brian
Bridy
Brill
Britta
Brittnay
Brooke
Bryan
Caitlin
Caleb
Cameron
Casey
Catie
Cecil
Chad
Chelsea
Chelsie
Chloe
Christian
Christianna
Christina
Ciarra
Cierra
Cindy
Clark
Cleveland
Clyde
Codi
Cody
Colton
Conner
Connie
Corbin
Courtney
Craig
Cynthia
Dallas
Dalton
Dana
Daniel
Danielle
Darby
Dave
David
Dawson
Debbie
Derrick
Desiree
Destinee
Devin
Diana
Dollison
Donna
Doria
Drew
Eddie
Edson
EJ
Elaine
Elizabeth
Emilee
Emily
Emma
Eric
Erica
Erin
Ethan
Florence
Fred
Garrett
Gavin
George
Glenn
Gracie
Grant
Gregory
Gunner
Hailee
Hailey
Hanna
Hannah
Hayley
Hazel
Heath
Hillary
Hollie
Hunter
Ian
Indigo
Jack
Jacob
Jadid
Jan
Jane
Janice
Jared
Jarrett
Jarrod
Jasmine
Jeannine
Jeff
Jenna
Jennifer
Jessica
Jetta
Jim
Jimmy
Jo Jo
John
Johnny
Jon
Joseph
Joshua
Josie
Joy
Jozie
Judi
Judith
Judy
Julia
Julie
Justin
Kaiden
Kaile
Kaitlyn
Kala
Kalyna
Kamerynn
Kara
Karen
Karla
Karrington
Karson
Karyn
Katie
Kay
Kayce
Kaylie
Keeley
Keith
Kelli
Kelly
Kelsie
Kendra
Kennelly
Kerri
Kevin
Kimberly
Kirstin
Koker
Korri
KP
Kris
Kristen
Krystal
Kyle
Kylee
Kylie
Kyna
Laney
Laura
Laurel
Lauren
Leah
Leslie
Lewis
Lexe
Liam
Libby
Lillee
Lillian
Linda
Lisa
Lizzie
Logan
Logann
Lori
Luke
Lyndsey
Lynn
Mac
Macey
Mackenzie
Maddie
Madison
Makayla
Makia
Makinley
Marci
Marina
Markie
Martha
Marty
Mary
Maryan
Matt
Matthew
Max
McKenzie
Megan
Meghann
Michaela
MiQuel
Miranda
Mitch
Molly
Morgan
Natalie
Nate
Nathan
Nick
Nicole
Olivia
Parker
Pat
Paul
Paulette
Petyn
Peyton
Portia
Rachelle
Ralph
Rebecca
Regan
Rex
Rhiannon
Richard
Rileah
Riley
Rocky
Rose
Ruth
Ryan
Sally
Sam
Samantha
Sandy
Sara
Savanna
Sawyer
Scott
Seth
Shannon
Sharon
Shawnee
Shelby
Shelly
Sierra
Spencer
Stan
Stephanie
Steve
Susan
Suzy
Sydney
Tamara
Tanner
Taylor
Terry
Tessa
Thomas
Tia
Timothy
Tisha
TJ
Tom
Tori
Tracey
Trent
Trenton
Trey
Trinity
Tristen
Ty
Tylan
Tyler
Wade
Wes
Wesley
Whitney
William
Willie
Xander
Zach
Zachary

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Friday, December 19, 2008

DONE!

As of late this afternoon, we are officially DONE with our 4 Paws Fundraising goal.

Due to a flurry of other people finishing their fundraising just ahead of us, the August and September training classes filled up very quickly. There are no tracking-based classes in October or November (they do mobility dogs, seizure dogs, etc. in some other months), we learned that we are the first members of the December 2009 training class. If for some reason, somebody in one of the earlier classes can't make it or has to reschedule, we could be bumped up to the September class.

To all of you out there who made this happen, we're still not tired of saying, "thank you!"

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Monday, December 15, 2008

And down the stretch they come!

So officially, we've crossed the $9,000 mark. But I have it on good authority that my employer's generous donation should be arriving any day, and should be enough actually put us over the top.

Yes, that's right. Any day now, our fundraising goal will be complete. It's hard to believe. We are in awe of all of you out there. We'll post an update when it's official.

With that in mind, we're shifting gears for a bit here.

If you were planning to donate but didn't get to it yet, we have a couple of suggestions:

1. You can donate for our upcoming expenses. When the time comes for us to go to training, we'll have to stay in a hotel near Xenia, Ohio for 10 days. We'll also need to acquire some gear, like a large dog crate. We're estimating that all told, our expenses will be about $2000. To do this, you can use the new "Donate" button on the right side of the page. These donations would not be tax deductible.

- or -

2. You can help another family in our area. Ryan's family is just starting their fundraising. You can learn more about Ryan's service dog needs here: http://adogfriendforryan.blogspot.com/2008/11/dog-friend-for-ryan.html

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Friday, December 12, 2008

Two more big thank-you's

First we need to thank Pickaway County Hands for Disabled for their wonderfully generous donation.



Second, I need to thank my employer, Epsilon, for their amazing generosity.


And stay tuned for some breaking news in the next few days...

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Some dog bone photos

Here are a couple pictures of the (literally) thousands of paper bones sold at Amelia's school...

Just to give you a sense of scale, you can see a life-sized Amelia cutout partway down the wall.


These pictures don't even include the big dog house, which was larger than the dog pictured above.

They gave us these big posters to bring home. I've been trying to hang them on the walls of our play room, but it's hard to even fit them. The top of the dog's head touches the ceiling, and his feet still drag on the floor.

My favorite part is seeing all the different names. The careful but crooked lines of a kindergartener, the stylized signatures of older kids, the doodles, the nicknames... Some of the bones say "5 bones" or "10 bones" on them, which I'm sure the people cutting them out were thankful for. I heard bones were selling so fast at one point that some of the teachers were getting blisters from cutting them out.

We also need to say Thank You to the Circleville Herald for the lovely story they put on the front page on December 3rd (or check in your "Shoppers Guide" bag if you don't get the paper). If you're a subscriber, you can see the article here.

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Saturday, December 6, 2008

Craft Bazaar report

We saw some old friends and met some new friends. We talked to a lot of wonderful and generous people and raised a good bit money for 4 Paws. We gave away a lot of free dog treats and people treats as a "Thank You" to our school and our community. We got to say "thanks" in person to some of the people who have helped us so much already. We met Joy the wonder-dog, Alexa the wonder-kid, Ciarra the wonder-sister, and Kristen the wonder-mom. We learned that some wheelchairs have lights on the wheels. We had a couple unplanned wardrobe changes, some broken glasses, a couple naps, and some snacks. We bought some goodies, helped at least one other good cause (the Cure Tays-Sachs Foundation), and our own cause was helped by the awesome Girl Scouts at the table next to us. Amelia and Edson got to play in a big inflatable bouncy castle. Owen got to wow people with his cuteness. Mom and Dad got worn out. And everbody had a good time.



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Friday, December 5, 2008

Craft Fair SATURDAY

We'll be at the Craft Bazaar at Westfall Elementary from 9am to 3pm on Saturday, December 6th. We'll have dog treats, people treats, flyers, and an appearance by the amazing Joy - the mobility assitance dog trained by 4 Paws for Alexa, a ten-year-old girl with Spina Bifida.

Hope to see you there!

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Monday, December 1, 2008

Another service dog story

Parents of special needs kids sometimes have to cope with some major challenges. Autism and similar disorders can lead to agressive outbursts that are hard for parents to deal with, and hard for strangers to understand.

But what happens when you add a service dog trained in behavior disruption to the mix?

Here's a story from Samantha Putnam about her experience with her son Tristen and their new service dog Ajax:

Tristen had just finished with therapy and had a HUGE meltdown in the waiting room. He was down on the floor, kicking and smacking at me. He let out a loud scream and Ajax jumped up and ran around me and started nuzzling Tristen! I haven't had Ajax approach Tristen during a meltdown because I know he'd get smacked or kicked. And Tristen did smack him. Repeatedly. But every time I got between them, Ajax just went around me and right back to Tristen. Finally I just quit trying to stop him. He didn't stop until Tristen calmed down.

Now usually when Tristen has a severe meltdown his behavior is off for the rest of the day. But he hasn't had a meltdown since. We even stopped at the store on the way home. He and Ajax are now in the living room, lying in the dog bed, looking at a book. Day after day, it just keeps getting better.

















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