BC Pets & Friends News

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BC Pets & Friends News

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Visiting Pets and Friends

Independet Times CoverPets and Friends: The Magic of Volunteering
Diane Skippen, featured on this month's Independent Times front cover, and her friend Jen are an example of this sort of highly personal volunteering.

Diane has worked for 20 years with a local program known as Pets and Friends, a highly effective pet visitation program that uses volunteer dogs and cats that have been trained, to interact with people who require facility care. These visits have been shown to improve quality of life, reduce stress and bring love, comfort and companionship to people no longer able to care for themselves.

Download the pdf article for the complete story. (2.7 meg)

 

New Competition for Pet photos

To all current paid up Pets and Friends members - Don’t forget to start taking great photos of your pet during the next few months to enter the very best one in our annual 2010 ‘Calendar Contest’ later on this year.

 

Upcoming Screenings and Orientations

Are you interested in becoming one of our pet visitation teams? If so, please contact us to arrange for a pet screening, and to sign up for orientation.

Our next available screening dates and locations are: 

Vancouver – Tuesday – 12 May 2009 & 9 June 2009
Burnaby – Tuesday – 12 May 2009 & 9 June 2009
Delta – Wednesday – 13 May 2009 & 10 June 2009
Port Moody – Wednesday – 13 May 2009 & 10 June 2009

Pet screenings take about a half hour and are in demand! Please reserve your spot early.

(HUMAN) ORIENTATION


ORIENTATION 2009
Once your pet has completed and passed our Screening session, there is a ‘Human’ Orientation to complete before you can become a Pets and Friends Visiting Pet Team so pleased book your appointment soon.  The next Orientations will be held in:
Surrey
Saturday – 23rd May 2009 & 25 July 2009
from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon

Vancouver
Monday – 22nd June 2009 & 21 September 2009
from 7:00 pm until 9:30 pm

Please call to register: 604 688-1766
Email: info@petsandfriends.org

Orientation, without your pet, is about 3 hours long. Orientations always fill up fast, so ask about being added to the list soon! Please remember that you cannot attend orientation until your pet has been successfully screened.

We look forward to working with you!

PLEASE NOTE: Many new volunteers want to visit with children. Ronald MacDonald House has cancelled its pet visitation program (Jan. 2008). Canuck Place's visitation program is FULL. However, there are many seniors' facilities, group homes, hospices etc. that are not child focused that need visitation teams. Please consider volunteering at another facility in need.

 

No one should have to live without companionship

Did you know that people living in long-term care facilities can go months without meaningful social contact? Even with the best care, they may struggle with powerful feelings of loneliness and frustration.

Pets and Friends is working to ensure that people in facility care don’t have to live without the comfort of companionship. Our long-running and highly successful pet visitation program touches thousands of lives each year—but there are still many elderly, sick and disabled residents who need our help.

Your involvement can make a difference: