Happy Halloween
Posted by TeamCharlie on October 31, 2008 under Wags for Hope | 
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Just thought I would pass along one of our Wags team’s Halloween picture. This is JJ. Enjoy.
Toast of the Town
Posted by TeamCharlie on October 16, 2008 under Wags for Hope | Be the First to Comment
One of our new initiatives at Wags for Hope is to pair animals from the local shelter with seniors living at home alone. This is the most ambitious project we have taken on to date, as it requires a relatively substantial amount of funds. If the senior living alone is on a fixed income and they cannot afford to feed the animal, we will help subsidize them. The implementation plan for “Wagging PALS” [Pets Adopt Loving Seniors] is in progress, and so are our plans for our first big fund raiser. On Friday, November 7th, Charlie will be hosting his first “Toast of the Town” event. As tickets for this sort of thing go they are extremely reasonable, coming in at $35.00 per couple. There will be free food, entertainment and door prizes to boot. Here is just a partial list of food donors: Carrabbas, Outback Steakhouse, The Macaroni Grill, Olive Garden, Uno Chicago Grill, the Clay Oven, the Greene Turtle and Famous Dave’s. You can’t beat that for the price. If you are reading this, you live locally (Frederick MD) and you are looking to have some fun on a Friday night with a bunch of animal lovers, come on out – more details are at our web site – just click on the Events button.
Getting a Dog
Posted by TeamCharlie on September 30, 2008 under Wags for Hope | Be the First to Comment
Since I am involved with Wags for Hope, I seem to be called upon whenever a situation with a dog or cat arises in our neighborhood. Recently I was summoned by a lady who wanted to rehome her Labradoodle. She has two children (approx. ten and eight) and a husband. She asked if I could help. I saw this coming as a result of our last conversation about her dog. They were having chewing issues among other things. I asked her why she wanted to get rid of the animal and she said that it was because the dog sees noone for most of the day (both parents work) the dog is very hyper when they come home. The breeder had told them the dog would not get larger than 60 lbs., but at 8 months it was already 85 lbs. Her kids have sports after school, and “the dog is too big to take along, so this just exacerbates it’s hyperactiveness when we get home again.” In addition, “Labradoodles aren’t supposed to shed” but this one does. I asked if the dog could be returned to the breeder. Most good breeders have it in their contract that they do get returned to them before they end up in a shelter or get rehomed with an inappropriate family. She said that he would take the dog back, but “he’s Amish and he has all kinds of dogs running around – my dog would be one of many and would have to fend for himself.”
In her defense, she came to me because she didn’t want the dog to end up in the “pound” as she called it, and was concerned enough about the dog that she wanted to ensure a good home for it. I don’t like using my Wags email list for personal things such as this, but I do know that these are the best people in the county as far as dog ownership is concerned, and I know that if one of them adopted the dog it would stay there and live out a very happy life. For the sake of the dog then, I sent out the request. As of this writing, she has some interested parties but I do not believe the dog has been rehomed yet. Read more of this article »
A Visit from a Horse?
Posted by TeamCharlie on September 20, 2008 under Wags for Hope | Read the First Comment
A number of months ago I heard about two of our Wags for Hope volunteers who were trying to get a horse to visit the Montevue Home, one of our regularly visited assisted living facilities in Frederick. Charlie and I also visit there from time to time, as it is so close to Citizen’s Care & Rehab which is my regular spot. I thought this was a great idea, but having never been around horses I didn’t give it much further thought at the time. Recently I spoke at a Suburban Frederick Kiwanis Club meeting and was approached by one of their members after the fact. We got into a discussion about things and I was just commenting about our wonderful volunteers, mentioning that two of them are trying to get a horse to come out to their facility. This person’s name was Sue Vona, and she responded, “Well it just so happens that I have 22 acres and more horses than acres – when would you like one to come out?” What fabulous luck. To make a long story shorter, today was the day she brought Satin, a nine-year-old Morgan horse to visit the folks at Montevue home. As you can see from the pictures she is a stunning horse. The gentleman in the sunglasses seen petting the horse in the first picture was the main reason for me being interested in this. His granddaughter owns and shows horses – something that he used to do. We arrived about ten minutes early and I noticed he was outside already prepared for this visit. I must really thank Sue for putting that smile on his face.
Check out the accompanying article from the Frederick News Post here.
Another Group Through
Posted by TeamCharlie on September 15, 2008 under Wags for Hope | Be the First to Comment
On Saturday we conducted another Wags for Hope orientation. I really don’t know how many that is for us, but given the fact that we started in April of 2006, my guess is that we have done over a dozen of them. My wife asked me if I get tired of doing them, because although the slides are altered a bit each time, they are basically designed to disseminate the same information. My answer was a resounding “no.” The reason for that is because every time we do one a whole new group of really excited faces are there to greet me and participate in the program. The more I learn the more I see that Wags for Hope is providing a service not only to the community, but to its volunteers as well. In the beginning of the orientation, we go around the room and get people to introduce themselves and talk about their pet. I asked the first couple why they were considering Wags for Hope, and their response really depicted why a lot of people do this. They said that they have so much love for their dog, they just want to share that with other people. That is the exact reason why I started visiting back in 2004 with Charlie. There is so much positive energy in that bond that we have with our animals that it just grows when we share it. This answer might stray from the expected “I want to give back to the community.” However I have always held the position that if this is the only reason people volunteer they will not last because they get nothing in return. Many philanthropic groups are seeing declines in membership due to the economy or other reasons, but we are still consistently seeing quite a few people sign up to these orientations. I think that it is for the reason that our volunteers gain so much from this activity. I also maintain that not one of us should feel guilty for reaping these rewards – it is part of what makes it fun.
Aunt Mary Revisited
Posted by TeamCharlie on August 24, 2008 under Wags for Hope | Read the First Comment
Well yesterday was the day to drive up to Norristown and see my Aunt Mary again. As we left we thought it wise to call ahead and make sure she was OK for visitors. That turned out to be a good idea not only for the reason mentioned, but it also gave her something to look forward to. I was honestly not aware how much she wanted us to visit, because this would be only the second time in some twenty years that we have seen her (the first time was just a few months ago). We discovered that she was indeed looking forward to it as we arrived – she was waiting out in the hallway for us. We presented her with the digital photo frame and showed her how it worked as well as some of the pictures stored on it. She seemed to be mildly interested in that – she was much more bent on engaging us in conversation. That’s a good thing. ( I’ve always been curious why when family gets together and people haven’t seen each other in a long time, that sooner or later the television gets turned on.) So I totally understood and was somewhat happy that she pretty much ignored the picture frame. Maybe she will get some solace from it when she is alone. Due to some traffic hangups we arrived a little late – about 1:45. We arrive after lunch as she has some form of dysphagia which means she must have all of her food pureed as she has difficulty swallowing and she would rather us not witness her eating. After we went through some pictures we settled down to conversation which is where it seems that Aunt Mary is the happiest. She told us about learning to swim in the Schuylkill river, which was interesting to us as we passed over it when we left. She told us another story about my adopted cousin which I never heard, that his mother gave birth to him in a hospital where my Aunt Ann worked as a nurse. It turned out that my cousin’s birth mother was married to a man in the military who had been recently killed in WWII. Her father would not let her keep the baby, so my Aunt Ann adopted him. MaryMargaret put on a bit of a show for Aunt Mary, reliving her recent participation in a local “High School Musical” play. She seemed to enjoy that very much, as she giggled and clapped when she was done. Mary was one of six children – the other five being boys. She said that many nights she would put on similar shows for her family.
Pet Therapy in Hospitals
Posted by TeamCharlie on August 18, 2008 under Wags for Hope | Be the First to Comment
With my new found tool of bringing videos into play (no pun intended), I thought I might put this to some good use. The video above is a nice representation of what we do at Wags for Hope, although it doesn’t capture the special moments when an animal team makes an incredible breakthrough. Nevertheless, it is a good video and does represent us well. I’m hoping that the powers that be in Frederick County see this, as they have yet to allow us into hospitals. In the beginning I thought that it sort of made sense, because we had no reputation to fall back on. Two years down the road our record is still spotless, so I feel that it is time. The problem has been that the infection control people within the hospital dictate this decision, and rather than come up with a policy to allow animals it is apparently easier to say they are not allowed. Besides what the video portrays, there are many applications where a therapy pet can do wonders inside a hospital:
1) Children’s Ward: Do I even have to explain this one?
2) Staging area for children’s procedures: When my daughter was 6, she had a rare condition called osteomyelitis in her arm. It was so severe the doctors had to rule out leukemia. To do that they had to perform multiple tests, some of which required her to be put to sleep. The anxiety she suffered before each test was heartbreaking for us. A therapy dog would have done wonders in this case.
3) I can’t think of an area where a therapy pet would NOT be helpful. I have heard stories of these animals bringing people out of comas with the entire family present. Could you imagine…
I am not naive enough to think that all that need be done is the hospitals open their doors and we walk in wherever we please. There would have to be conditions, and special places where we would be allowed. Other areas would be off limits. At NIH they have a vet check each animal before it comes in. The point is they do this because they see the value. It took eleven years for National Capital Therapy Dogs to get into NIH. I hope we don’t have to wait that long.
Preparing for Aunt Mary
Posted by TeamCharlie on August 12, 2008 under Wags for Hope | Read the First Comment
It’s getting close to the time when we go back to Norristown, PA to visit my 98-year-old Aunt Mary in the Regina Nursing Center. The whole family (including Charlie) will make the three hour trek again. Normally this sort of thing would be considered a chore to some, but I am really looking forward to it. Having visited hundreds of people in nursing homes I do not hold it against them if they are bitter about the experience – I constantly wonder what my disposition would be given the same set of circumstances. And to be honest, the ones that complain are not the most fun to be around. But Aunt Mary is different. You can sense that she’d be happier at home, but never complains about the situation. In fact, she is a joy to be around (and always was).
After seeing digital picture frames in some of the rooms that I normally visit, I thought this was a wonderful idea for a gift for Aunt Mary. We went to Costco and got one – then the chore became filling it with pictures. I solicited pics from the family and added many of our own. My sister Maureen had several pictures of Aunt Mary and her husband George, and kindly sent them for me to scan. Looking at them made me think about my own mortality, and reminded me again how special the elderly are. Here is a picture of Mary and George from somewhere around 1940 (my best guess), followed by a picture we took on our last visit:
I hope this new found respect for the elderly that I have gained is a result of visiting Aunt Mary and others at nursing homes, and not just because I am finding myself to be close to the “on deck circle”.
Colleen McCarrick
Posted by TeamCharlie on August 9, 2008 under Kids are Heroes, Wags for Hope | Be the First to Comment
A few months ago I noticed a sign at the Wendy’s in Frederick next to the Sheetz. It read something about Colleen McCarrick being some sort of Heisman Trophy finalist. It was a bit confusing because I am used to Heisman Trophies being awarded to male college athletes. However, I forgot about it after a while as I had other things on my mind. In my recent Internet search for local Frederick heroes to help emcee Kids are Heroes Day, somehow I tripped over that name again. After further digging I realized that I knew her mother Susan, as she was an early applicant for the Wags for Hope program. I discovered that Colleen was quite accomplished, as she was one of six female finalists for the 2007 Wendy’s High School Heisman award. This obviously clarified the sign I saw earlier. According to www.wendysheismanblog.com, ”The award honors both male and female high school students who excel in academics, athletics, and student leadership.” She was selected for this honor among 32,000 students nationwide. But this was not all I discovered. She has achieved other accolades, but one article I uncovered caught my eye. According to the Gazette, she started something called the “Kids’ Theater” when she was 12. The cast of her plays consist of actors under the age of 18, and the proceeds go directly to a charity of her choosing. This year’s goal was to raise money to buy a $3000.00 exercise bike for a friend who “has a lot of orthopedic issues”, according to his mom. After uncovering all this I felt that she was a perfect candidate to be one of our hosts for Kids are Heroes Day. I reconnected with her mom and they both agreed that she would be there.
Well Colleen’s big night was last night. We went up to Middletown High to check out her production of “Enchanted Sleeping Beauty”. I was amazed to see upwards of 40 kids involved in the play, all donning period costumes. The set was great and the play was very enjoyable. I was so impressed that it was all put on by high school kids and younger. My choice of emcee couldn’t have been better. Colleen is an adult version of many of the heroes we recognize today. Part of the “perks” of being involved with Kids are Heroes is meeting people like Colleen.
Wags on TV
Posted by TeamCharlie on August 6, 2008 under Wags for Hope | Be the First to Comment
As I watched the piece they did on Frederick 360, I was reminded once again how important Charlie is to me (and a few other folks too). I will always have this video of him to cherish, seeing him “in action” bringing comfort to people. The piece didn’t mention our efforts with R.E.A.D., nor did it show our website. I guess I can’t be too disappointed, because it gave us great exposure and hopefully will gain us more good will in the community and some new recruits. I was a little uncomfortable with the fact that I was in it so much – it was hard to get the sense of how many others are involved and what they all do for the organization. Since the onset I have done none of this alone – many people put in a lot of effort to get us started (a few of whom are no longer with us). Becoming a corporation and achieving non-profit status is no simple task, but with the people we had, we got it done the first time. There are so many people who have taken ownership of Wags for Hope and we are all so blessed and humbled to have them. We have several committees each run by a different person who is dedicated to bettering our group in one way or another. We have a self-appointed ambassador who is making it her goal to get us spread out further into Washington County, and another who is doing the same thing in West Virginia. We have a lady who has the thankless job of managing the paperwork for the entire organization. She also helps on the Training and Education Committee. She used to visit with her dog but sadly her pet passed away. She never gets the “glory” but is always there we we need her. My point is that there are so many people that make Wags for Hope what it is, and that is a WONDERFUL group of people who do some very wonderful things. Check them out at this link, and make sure to click on the Teams to see who else is involved.
