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KPETS - Keynotes Newsletter
August,
2012
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Touching Lives *
Warming Hearts
in Our
Communities
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If you have trouble or
want to review previous KEYNOTES, they are available on the website
at www.kpets.org
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Chester Rima
Noche
River
Karen and the kids
Toby
Send us your pup's page and we'll add it to our list!
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Other
Events
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Round Table Breakfast
2nd Saturday,
Odd Months
Pet Grief
Support Group
Every 3rd Thursday,
at Fred F. Groff
Lancaster
6:30-7:30pm
Light Refreshments.
No Charge.
RSVP @ Tolizkhoff@gmail.com
717-397-8255
Info regarding Orientations and Workshops is located
at the end of the newsletter.
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Meet our Sponsors for month:
Printer Sponsor: Nancy
Bouder and almost registered Buckley!
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KPETS services are
provided free of charge to our communities and survives on donations
from friends like you who want to help KPETS continue Touching Lives *
Warming Hearts for years to come!
KPETS future depends on support from our
communities. If each volunteer / facility or business would
pledge to cover one month's resource expense, it would make
all the difference in the world to our budget.
Please help. We lost a major donation recently and
for the first time since 2010, we had to dip into
savings this month to meet our expenses.
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Check
our KPETS Konnections Blog
For
New Visit Requests
Along the same lines as above, KPETS does not have the
resources to continue sending out visit requests and event reminders.
It has just gotten to be too many for our small staff.
To keep everyone informed on these requests, we
are posting everything on our KPETS Konnections blog.
Please check the blog regularly
for ways to branchout and continue Touching
Lives * Warming Hearts!
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Reporting
of Volunteer Hours
- 126 or 38% of volunteers are now logging
their hours
- Five more than last month
- 247 hours logged for July
- 2886 hours YTD
Please do not
put anything other than numbers between the commas in notes field.
Example: #
served, miles,
So visiting 6
people and traveled 15 miles looks like:
6, 15,
Please, if
this format is not used the data cannot be analyzed. Thank you.
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Upcoming Urgent Requests
PLEASE look to the KPETSKonnections
Blog for these type of activities. But here
are some we need to fill or confirm asap!
Campbelltown
National Night Out
Campbelltown
Fire Company
Ephrata Dog Days of Summer - KPETS Info Booth
Friday, August 7 from 5:00-8:00pm
Saturday, September 15 from 1:30-3:00pm
Maple Farms Nursing Home, Akron
Elizabethtown College Homecoming Parade
Saturday, October 20 from 10:00am - Noon
Elizabethtown High School Parking Lot
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Teams - Watch for 2013 Renewal in the mail this week!
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KPETS Volunteers
Touching
Lives * Warming Heart
in our
communities
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Bingo
Season is in Full Swing!
and
Lexi's
Bow Wow Bingo is just a few weeks away!
The Biggest
KPETS Fundraiser is just around the corner!
Adella and Jenny (yes, she is volunteering for
KPETS) are working hard a gathering donations, prizes and coordinating/
scheduling volunteers for the big day! It takes a lot of preparation so
we need volunteers to pitch in throughout the day.
The event is Sunday of Labor Day
Weekend, Sept 2 at Outdoor World, Circle M
Ranch 2111 Millersville Road, Lancaster
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KPETS Volunteer Named Mom of the Month!
Congratulations Heather Meany on being named July Mom of
the Month by Lancaster Newspaper! Heather and her therapy dog Romeo are
a registered KPETS therapy team; they especially enjoy working with
children. "A dog always makes everyone feel great. Children can
whisper secrets to a dog, read to a dog . . . a dog never judges."
Read the Article
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KPETS would like to thank the United Zion Retirement
Community for hosting a Jeans Day in support of KPETS's cause. On
Friday, June 15, United Zion Staff had the opportunity to wear jeans to
work for a donation to a special cause, and they picked KPETS!
United Zion donated more than $50 dollars to KPETS that day.
KPETS thanks the staff who generously donated. Their
support is very much appreciated.
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Pawsing
to Comfort Those Who Mourn
- contributed by Diane
Rima
"This morning we had so much fun speaking to a
group of elementary school students about KPETS. The children, 1st-2nd graders gathered in the gymnasium, and
were seated in big circles in their classroom groups. They
were cute as can be (ohmy), and they listened
attentively, as Chester and I shared about Pet Therapy.
The extra fun
part was the meet and greet time, where Chester and I went to each
circle of kiddos ~~ the students were seated on
their bottoms, eagerly waiting for Chester to pass by,
swooshing his fluffly tail
and tickling their noses ~~ sometimes he would steal a
kiss! Countless fingers and hands reached out to pet 'n
touch the puppy dog. There were giggles and wags all
around.
In one circle,
the last one we visited, a little girl with long dark curls reached out
toward Chester. He "pawsed" ..... and kissed her
sweet face. I continued to move on around the circle, however Chester
stayed in front of his new friend. Her teacher said, "It doesn't
look like Chester wants to move :-) ."
This was more
than obvious ~~ So, I waited with Chester for a bit while
he stood still as can be in front of this sweet little girl,
content and happy to be with her. Her teacher, eyes filled with
tears, quietly said to me, so no one else could hear, "Her dog
died yesterday. It's like Chester knows."
sigh....my
eyes leaked and my heart hurt.... I know he
knows. We made our way around the classroom circle one more
time, and when Chester reached his little girl, again he pawsed. Gently he gave kisses and snuggles.
I asked her if she would like to give him a hug. She knodded "yes," and then
wrapped both arms around his tummy, and lay her
head on his back. He stood still and quiet. Pawsing
to comfort, those who mourn.
Who but God,
could orchestrate moments such as these?"
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Aaron's
Acres - contributed
by Sara Prescott
"My better dog half Maddie
and I signed up to visit Aaron's Acres Camp which met at the Jewish
Center off of Oregon Pike. I have to admit, I was excited for myself
and for Maddie. Maddie
usually takes part in the reading programs in the Mt. Joy and Lititz
libraries, which she loves! There are usually smaller groups at the
library so I was curious how Maddie would
react to the large group of campers at Aaron's Acres. When we pulled up
we were met by several other KPETS teams. We each introduced ourselves
and our pups to the campers and counselors then broke off
individually so the campers could spread out and meet us and our pups.
I was overwhelmed at the love and kindness bestowed upon us. The
kids were so incredibly sweet and gentle. The counselors were so kind
and extremely helpful. In a few cases I lifted Maddie
up to greet our wheelchair bound friends and the counselors pitched
right in to help me get her situated. Many of the campers and
counselors shared stories about their dogs and asked tons of questions
about Maddie. One boy named Kyle kept coming
back again and again to see Maddie. He has a
sister named Maddie and was so excited to
meet and connect with my Maddie! Needless to
say my Maddie was just lavished with love and
attention. She even gave a few of the campers
kisses, and she is not usually a kissy type of dog.
As I drove away, I realized that the smile had not left
my face the entire time we were there and for some time after
that. I gave Maddie many hugs when we
returned home and kept telling her how proud I was of her. This visit
really solidified for me why we became a KPETS therapy team. Maddie has a gift. She has the ability to bring out
the best in people. To share this gift with others is a blessing. We
can't wait to go back to camp at the end of the month!"
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KPETS Joins the Think Local Campaign!
KPETS has
joined the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce's Think Local Campaign!
"Think Local
is a Lancaster Chamber led, community wide initiative to improve our
local economy by encouraging consumers and business decision makers to
support local businesses when making purchases.
The primary
goal of Think Local is to stimulate and accelerate the local economy by
encouraging business decision makers and consumers to keep their
dollars local, where the impact can be significant as dollars recirculate locally."
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Useful
Articles for You and Your Pet
"Training a new pup, or teaching an older dog a few
new tricks, can seem like a daunting task. Our friends at ECAD
(Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities) have helped to simplify
the process by sharing 20 basic commands everyone should know."
- published by Dr. Becker
"It seems there's another dog snack from China to
worry about: sweet potato treats.
According to
the Veterinary Information Network (VIN), vets are now reporting health
problems linked to sweet potato treats similar to those related
to chicken jerky treats also made in China." . . . Read more at Healthy
Pets with Dr. Karen Becker
Pet Therapy Dogs May
Carry MRSA And Clostridium Difficile Between
Patients -published by ScienceDaily
KPETS
Volunteer Mary Ellen recently pointed out this article after
considering the exposure of therapy dogs to MRSA and C-Diff during
nursing home visits. She located this article to make KPETS volunteers
aware of the preventative measures you can take to reduce the risk of
contamination to your dog and the clients we serve. . .
Read more at Science
Daily
Blood Test for Canine
Cancer
- published by
the National Canine Cancer Foundation
Hello everyone,
when we first started the National Canine Cancer Foundation and wrote our
mission statement to saving dogs lives by finding cures, better
treatments and accurate, cost effective diagnostic methods in dealing
with canine Cancer, it was my hope and belief that I would someday get
to write to all dogs owners a letter like this. Read more at National Canine Cancer
Foundation
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Info for New and VIP's (Volunteers in Process)
* Lancaster -
Sat, Aug 11 (2nd Sat of even months) @ 9 am
* Palmyra - Sun,
Sept 16 @ 1 pm
* Hanover - Wed,
Sept 19 @ 7 pm
* Westminster,
MD - Tues, Oct 16 @ 7 pm, Westminster, MD
Workshops
* Lancaster -
2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 6:30 pm
* Palmyra - 4th
Monday of odd months, 6:30 pm
* Lebanon - 4th
Monday of even months 6;30 pm
* Hanover,
Westminster adn York - several days
after their orientation
Please register
with with Workshop@kpets.org. Space is limited.
5-Week
Therapy Dog Training Class - (optional class
offered for those who would like additional guidance) $75
* Lancaster -
Starts Sun, Sept 2 @ 3 pm / RSVP: workshop@kpets.org
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Thank you all
for making what it is and taking KPETS to where it is today!
Touching Lives *
Warming Hearts in our local communities! ! !
Karen Gerth
KPETS - Keystone Pet Enhanced Therapy Services
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