$10,000 Granted to 4 Paws for Ability

This year, the Cornerstone Autism Foundation granted a donation of $10,000 to 4 Paws for Ability. To learn more about the organization and how these funds will make an impact, we asked 4 Paws Developmental Director Kelly Camm to share information about the organization on our blog:

“We train Autism Assistance Dogs, Seizure Assistance Dogs, Mobility Assistance Dogs, Hearing Assistance Dogs, FASD/DE Assistance Dogs, Diabetic Alert Dogs, Facilitated Guide Dogs, Veterans Assistance Dogs, and Alzheimer’s Assistance Dogs.

• • Service dogs are durable medical goods and task-trained to help people with disabilities and have all public access. Therapy dogs are people’s pets that they have trained to visit places with permission (hospitals, nursing homes, libraries). They cheer people up and do not have public access.
  • Autism Assistance Dogs help children with behavior disruption, tethering, and search and rescue. They can be lifesaving in many cases (search and rescue).
  • The family of a child can go to www.4pawsforability.org and apply.

Our organization was created over 21 years ago, and the goals when it was first created was to help people who were turned down by existing service dog organizations because they were “too disabled,” “too young,” “live too far away,” etc. Those are still goals of 4 Paws today. We strive to place as many dogs with children with disabilities as we can.

4 Paws for Ability strives to be the leading provider of service dogs for children regardless of disability as well as adult children with caregiver guardianship who cannot live independently. 4 Paws assists Veterans who have given selflessly to our country by providing service dogs which can assist with disabilities on a case by case basis as well as adults living with hearing loss, diabetes, or Alzheimer’s.

4 Paws strives to reach that mission every day by breeding dogs to have puppies, care and train for those puppies throughout their time with us, and place over 100 dogs a year for children with disabilities.

Before the Pandemic, our goal was to place over 100 dogs for children with disabilities in 2020, but depending on when we can hold classes again, that number will be much lower.

This grant will go directly to a child’s fee for service, which will help them get placed into a class much sooner than if the child’s family had to raise the money on their own. This could be lifesaving for that child.

• • People can donate on our website by going to https://4pawsforability.org/donate-now/
  • People can see volunteer opportunities by going to https://4pawsforability.org/volunteer-at-4-paws/

We are so appreciative of the Cornerstone Autism Center for their generosity in trying to help children with Autism.”