Team Jacobly for 4 Paws for Ability

There’s nothing like a boy and his dog. Artwork courtesy of Derek Benson

This past April, my family was blessed to find out that J-bear himself qualifies to have a service dog. We are working with 4 Paws for Ability to help achieve this.

This is where we need your help. We have a minimum amount to fundraise to support the mission of 4 Paws in giving service dogs to children. It is a small price to pay given the gift that we will receive in return, with due hard word. I ask you to please take the time to read below and consider helping by donating to the cause.

Would you help me earn my dog?

Here’s the blurb from our FirstGiving page:

We are raising money for 4 Paws for Ability to help them give Jacob and children like him service dogs to expand their quality of life. Jacob was born in June 2010 and was diagnosed in 2012 with suspected autism, his formal diagnoses coming in 2013: Autism Spectrum Disorder (“classic” autism), Sensory Processing Dysfunction and Expressive/Receptive Language Disorder. He is a bright, funny, sweet, physically gregarious and overwhelmingly curious little boy who could sincerely use the help of a service dog to enhance his ability to interact with the world at large in a safe manner and ease the strains that come with autism. He is considered non-verbal right now and has a hard time following instructions or commands, including responding to his own name, especially in unfamiliar locations and easily can find himself in danger without strict, stressful vigilance by any and all adults attending to him.

Jacob’s dog will be trained to help interrupt or ease his self-stimulatory behaviors, assist in calming him or transition his focus to the dog in times of distress and to work with Jacob either via a tethering system to keep them together and safe while the dog is under parental control or to track Jacob from his last known location on occasions where Jacob might wander away.

It costs 4 Paws for Ability $22,000 to raise and train service dogs. We are committed to raising $13,000 to help towards the goal of Jacob receiving his dog.

Read a more detailed story here.

Here’s how you can help:

Donations:

Our FirstGiving Page: Team Jacobly for 4 Paws for Ability

Thirty-One Gifts Party for a Cause: Any sales on my Thirty-One website donate 20% to Team Jacobly. Check out our vibrant summer catalog! (All content of this blog is reflective of my personal views, not Thirty-One. Standard disclaimer, and all!) If you’re interested in hosting an online or catalog party, contact me via my site! You can earn hostess rewards while helping an AMAZING cause.

Check out Schnoodleware Dog Toys: Follow the link to the campaign our friends at Schnoodleware Dog Toys are running to raise money for Team Jacobly! Use the code in the link and get 10% off your purchase while 10% also goes to our fundraising efforts. These are wonderful toys and accessories for the dogs in your life.

 Donate via PayPal: From the 4 Paws site: If you have a specific project that you would like your donation to go to (for example, sponsoring, wish list, etc.), please enter it in the “Special Instructions” OR “Instructions to the merchant” box during your donation process through PayPal’s web site. The link to the Special Instructions appears on the last page of the process. Please do not forget to add my name, Nicole Ryan, or Jacob’s name to the Special Instructions or the donation will not be credited to our family.

Donate via Mail: You can mail a check or money order directly to 4 Paws For Ability, 253 Dayton Ave. Xenia, Ohio 45385. Make sure to make the check or money order out to 4 Paws for Ability and put Jacob or my name (Nicole Ryan) in the “memo” spot.

Note that donations to 4 Paws for Ability directly are tax deductible. They are a non-profit organization. If you need details about them for corporate donation matching programs please check them out here. All donations through FirstGiving are considered directly donated to 4 Paws, which is a verifiable non-profit, thus they are also tax deductible.

Total raised so far: $5,708 (updated 7.1.13) Totals include FirstGiving numbers and known mailed or PayPal donations. PayPal and mail donation numbers are updated on the 1st and 15th of each month.

Share our story

Hit the share button, copy and paste a link to this page to Facebook or Twitter… Share J’s tale around. The more who know is the more who can help!

More fundraising events will come in the future and we’ll update fundraising totals monthly.