NORTH CONWAY, NH – Assistance Canine Training Services will be able to train more assistance dogs and launch a compassionate therapy dog program, with the help of a $10,000 grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Daisy Hale Fund.
A non-profit organization, ACTS breeds, trains and places service dogs for people with disabilities, as well as for organizations that work with people with emotional, psychological, developmental or physical issues.
The grant will support a customer relationship management system at ACTS that will integrate all aspects of the organization. This, in turn, will allow more dogs to be brought into the program, bolstering ACTS’ goal of doubling client placements, organization officials said in a press release.
The new system will also help ACTS develop a compassionate therapy dog program, which will include volunteer therapy teams who can respond to requests from community, health care, and educational organizations asking for trained dogs to visit.
The technology will ensure the new program can be launched efficiently and successfully, the statement said. The goal is to eventually offer 200 compassionate community visits per year that would reach more than 1,500 people.
“We are thrilled to receive this grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation Daisy Hale Fund,” said Kathy Metz, Executive Director of ACTS. “This funding will help us continue to grow and develop as an organization and achieve our ambitious goals for service and facility dog training and placement, as well as our ACTS of Compassion Therapy Dog program. . We thank them for their support and endorsement of our important efforts in the community.
ACTS, although based in North Conway, also has training sites in Tuftonboro and the University of Vermont. Early puppy rearing is done by volunteers from across the region. The organization was founded in 2007 by Dorothy Hyde-Williams, of Tuftonboro, in memory of her son Nate, who died at age 23 in a bicycle accident in 2005. The organization is officially under the umbrella of the Nathaniel J Foundation .Williams.
The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation manages a growing collection of 2,000 funds created by individuals, families, and businesses, and awards more than $50 million in grants and scholarships annually.
