Touched By An Animal, Inc. 

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35 YEARS PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF NEED and MODELING FOR SUCCESS

It was such real people, my dear neighbors in an aging Chicago neighborhood, that prompted me to gather volunteers from the surrounding homes, to provide whatever help was needed to keep pets and their elderly, health-challenged persons together, to affirm with kindness their special bond.

 

Caring neighbors helping other neighbors with their cherished pets soon resulted in tangible longer-lasting health and feel—good benefits for all participants — the volunteers, the recipients, and the pets, as well as the whole of our neighborhood community.

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We did then, and do now, encourage our volunteers to enjoy neighborly coffee or tea and casual conversation on their visits, especially with those who had become almost shut-ins by the limitations of their increasing age and daily living difficulties. Early on we discovered that the pet gave us an entre' to some of the needs or heartfelt desires that we might easily fill.

One comment often repeated by these homeowners as they looked out their windows onto unkempt yards was regret that they could no longer maintain their gardens, once such a source of family joy. So we established a community vegetable and flower garden in the founder's yard, which brought together, each summer evening, neighbors who had previously been mere acquaintances, and who could no longer maintain their individual private gardens.

 

Now we heard laughter and bonding over shared enjoyment of digging in fresh soil, marveling at plant growth, and enjoying favorite fresh vegetables with a little vase of flowers on their tables.

When the Chicago Botanic Garden built its wonderful ENABLING GARDEN (1999) we drove a group to volunteer there every other Sunday. One woman was in a wheelchair, one was blind, one had a balance problem, and a man was both deaf and learning impaired- All were from our neighborhood, brought together because we were helping them with their pet care. Now they could enjoy gardening again, and feel proud and of value volunteering and even answering questions for hundreds of visitors.

Years later the concluding paragraph of Dr. Marty Becker, DVM, in the chapter SENIORS - EVERYDAY MIRACLES FROM THE LOVE OF A PET, resonates loud and clear: " The pet was a bridge from their homes to the world, a world that increasingly was rushing by faster and faster, leaving them farther and farther behind. With their pets as the access point, they greet the world as people who care and love, and receive both back." p.181, The Healing Power of Pets, Hyperion, 2002.

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Scan the QR Code with a mobile device (to the left) to download info on The Healing Power of Pets book.  

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