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Concord church helps support therapy dog program
Jonathan E. Coleman / jcoleman@independenttribune.com
Alex Crisp, 6, who suffers from Mitochondria Encephalomyopathy, is all smiles as he interacts with Camden, a service dog in training with paws4people to help Crisp with everything from turning on lights to taking off his socks.
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Published: May 30, 2009
CONCORD - - It's not uncommon to hear about churches coming together to support the community. But it's somewhat less common to hear about a congregation bringing a dog to church to help in that effort.
That's the unique situation that members of Calvary Lutheran Church experienced last week when a West Virginia-based nonprofit visited.
Sue Ireland, a Calgary member, invited pars4people to come talk to the congregation about the dog-training program it operates and how the church can help support the group and serve several area families in need. She has been involved with the North Carolina chapter of paws4people and has seen first hand what the group does.
Terry Henry, founder of paws4people, started training dogs when she was 12 years old. Now a college senior, Henry and her father run the nonprofit, which trains service and therapy dogs to enhance the lives of children in the classroom or those with special needs.
One such child is Alex Crisp, of Charlotte. At 6 years old Crisp has already lead a difficult life, being diagnosed with Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy, a disease defined by involuntary movements, seizures, delayed gastric motility, asthma and severe hypotonia.
He requires constant attention with even the most common tasks.
That's where Camden comes in.
Camden is a Golden Retriever being specially trained by paws4people to help the Crisp family meets Alex's physical and emotional needs.
Each dog in the paws4people program undergoes 18 to 24 months of extensive training specialized to meet each family's needs. The dogs are trained by inmates.
"I have been to the prison in West Virginia and seem the women work with the dogs," said Ireland. "It does them so much good."
Dogs and paws4people staff make home visits to find the best match and acclimate the dogs to their future homes. During those visits, paws4people volunteers get a better sense of what needs the families might have and can better target specific training for the dog.
But the dogs' services are limited strictly to training, said Alex's father Matt.
"Alex being in a wheelchair, people are standoffish toward him," Alex said. "If we can take Camden out with him, Camden will draw people toward Alex and help them get to know Alex. It's not only comforting for Alex, but for people who meet Alex."
"We don't charge for the dogs," Henry said, despite an average cost of about $30,000 per dog for training, vet bills and other expenses. "We have to pay it forward."
That's where the congregation at Calvary Lutheran Church comes in. Ireland is planning a silent auction, live auction and dinner event for the community in September to raise money for paws4people. Sunday's introduction was a chance for the congregation to see first-hand what the program was about in hopes of spurring more interest and support for the fundraiser.
"This was just kind of to make our congregation more aware of paws4people and what we do so they will be more aware," Ireland said.
Anyone interested in contributing toward Camden's training costs can do so online at www.alex.paws4people.org
About paws4people
In addition to serving children, paws4people recently launched paws4vets, a program that matches dogs with veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.
The group operates in eight states, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, New York, North Carolina and Georgia.
For more information, visit paws4people.org
• Contact Jonathan E. Coleman: 704-789-9105.
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