Dr. Frank Folke Furstenberg, a retired allergist and Sinai Hospital physician wants to measure the effectiveness of pet visitation on shut-ins. He develops a pilot program with volunteer teams visiting four nursing homes and finds that the stimulation of playing with animals benefits the patients significantly.
Pets on Wheels shares the love of friendly therapy pets to help improve life, connecting our pets with people to make a profound positive difference every day.
From a pilot project of just four individual visits, our therapy pet teams now log more than 175,000 touches with people at nearly 400 facilities and special events in an average year. Regularly visiting nursing homes and hospitals, assisted living facilities, homeless and domestic violence shelters, veterans’ hospitals, libraries, schools, colleges, corporate campuses and more, Pets on Wheels volunteers log over 12,000 hours a year to fight stress and help lick loneliness one visit at a time.
We are a 501(c)3 organization and receive NO funding from any government agency or health department. Our budget is supported solely by private donations from people just like you and from our corporate and foundation sponsors. Our donors and volunteers make our mission possible.
Pets on Wheels becomes part of the Baltimore City Department of Aging. The program grows to reach people across the metro area.
Pets on Wheels incorporates as a private 501(c)3 nonprofit, federal ID # is 52-1657528.
Pets on Wheels adds more facilities to its visiting roster and expands into Baltimore County.
Funding from the Department of Aging and other state and local sources stops. Library reading programs start to be added to our program.
Pets on Wheels develops a unique proprietary database to capture information on our visits. Our service area expands to cover most of Maryland west of the Bay.
Pets on Wheels continues to professionalize the organization to ensure long term sustainability. The Future Fund Legacy Giving Program is introduced, along with an expansion of services to individuals as we look toward 40 more years.
Link to: Donate
SIGN UP FOR EMAIL UPDATES:
