5th Annual Walk for Those Who Can't Registration Now Open

WILMINGTON, N.C.- Registration is now open for the fifth annual fundraising walk benefiting Carolina Canines for Service, on Saturday, March 26 at 9 a.m., at Hugh MacRae Park, Wilmington, NC. Teams and individuals can register for the Walk For Those Who Can't online by visiting www.walkforthosewhocant.org or calling (910) 362-8194.

            A minimum donation of $25 is required to participate in the walk. Children under 12 are free. On the day of the event, sign-in and on-site registration begins at 9 a.m. and the walk 1.5 mile walk around Hugh MacRae Park begins at 10 a.m. This is a dog friendly event and participants are encouraged to bring their canine companions.

Last year more close to 400 individuals participated in the Walk For Those Who Can’t, raising $50,000 for Carolina Canines’ programs. Funding was used to support growing programs within the organization such as the Carolina Canines for Veterans, Carolina Canines for Therapy and Paws for Reading and the service dog program. Service dogs, valued at $40,000 each, assist people with disabilities regain their independence with the help of the quality trained dogs that can complete over 350 tasks.

 “The requests for our services continue to increase.  The support of the public is critical to our ability to continue providing services such as quality trained service dogs, certified pet therapy teams and community awareness programs” said President and CEO Rick Hairston. “This walk is a wonderful opportunity to learn about our many programs and support our mission through a sponsorship, donation, or participation.

            Support for the 2011 Walk For Those Who Can’t comes in part CBS 10 WILM,  Queensboro Shirt Company, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, StarNews Media, Sunrise Broadcasting, SunnyFM 104.5, 98.7 Carolina Coastal Rock, DogLiving Magazine, Port City Java, PawPrints Magazine, Dock Street Printing, Wilmington Animal Healthcare and Bax Photography.  Corporate sponsorship opportunities and volunteer opportunities for groups and individuals are still available by calling Carolina Canines at (910) 362-8194.

            Carolina Canines for Service is a non-profit corporation dedicated to empowering people with disabilities to achieve greater independence. The group trains and places certified service dogs with the help of volunteer foster families, provides pet therapy certification classes and helps children in our community improve their reading skills. Since its inception in 1996, Carolina Canines has placed 43 service dogs and the value of all the programs exceeds $4.0 of services to our community. For more information, call (866) 910-3647 or visit www.carolinacanines.org.

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We the People

This week the world news looked back on the remarkable day when President John F. Kennedy gave his inaugural speech and challenged every American to “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country".  Every day while we sit in our cozy homes and snuggle into our warm beds at night, there is a man or woman who has given that up to defend our freedoms.  They have left behind a mother and father, brother and sister, husband, wife and children and gone to a hostile and harsh land.  When our service members return home, some are bruised and battered, missing limbs, shattered in ways many of us will never know, left to pick up the pieces of their lives and fit back into society. For some, the bruising and battering has gone further than the body.  It has bruised and battered their inner most self and they struggle to once again find who they are.   

We the people need to step up and serve the ones who have guarded and protected us. Some serve by volunteering in their local USO, others by packing boxes of goodies to be delivered to our service members, yet others help to physically build a home or a ramp.  For Carolina Canines, we serve by providing a medical option in the form of a quality trained service dog.  Not just any dog, a thoroughly assessed and highly trained creature that will change a persons’ life. 

This week, we celebrated the partnering of a Carolina Canines for Veterans service dog team.  One person, who has served his country and one dog trained to serve that individual.  Meet James and Abel.  James served his country as a Combat Engineer in the United States Marine Corps.  He has been deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan.  In June 2006 during his mission in Ramadi, Iraq he was injured by an IED.  

Service Dog Abel was rescued by a Wilmington, NC rescue group, Tails U Win, and provided to Carolina Canines for Veterans after he  passed a temperament evaluation.  Abel then began his training which took place initially at the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Brig before being transferred with the Carolina Canines for Veterans program to the Naval Consolidated Brig- Charleston.  Abel completed over 2,000 hours of training to be ready to serve. 

James continues to serve his country and works on healing his wounds.  Our hope is that Service Dog Abel will make it possible to regain more independence and the quality of life he and his family once knew.   We the people,  helping those who have served and serving our country.

Reason, Season or a Lifetime

This week my world was rocked with the news of the untimely passing of a friend. I did not know him well, but he came into my life because of a four-legged friend and he touched my heart.  I can only hope that I touched his.  


Life takes us down many paths.  Sometimes the path we take is not always easy.  There is hurt, physical or mental pain, good choices and those not so good.  There are hard times and times that are less hard.  There is laughter, joy, and tears.  


As the new year approaches consider how with just one smile, one kind word, might be a reason or a season for just one person.   That is all it takes to change someone's life, one person, caring. 


This message is dedicated to the friend that has left this world all to soon.  You know who you are and I pray we meet again in another season, but for a lifetime. - From my heart, Pat

Reason, Season, or Lifetime
People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is,
you will know what to do for each person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant. — Unknown

The Season of Giving

Christmas came a few days early for the Carolina Canines for Veterans service dogs in training thanks to Harry Barker Inc.  Carol Perkins, Founder, saw a recent article in the Post and Courier about the Carolina Canines for Veterans program conducted at the Naval Consolidated Brig Charleston and knew it was just the type of thing she wanted to support.    After a few phone calls and exchanges of emails, several of the U. S. Marines handling the dogs, Rick and Pat Hairston, service dogs in training Elder, Eden and Angel, Service Dog Titus and Therapy Dog Delta Mae visited the Harry Barker facility, met the incredible staff and had a little shopping spree.   The dogs and people were like kids in a candy store; they had so much fun!  

Thanks to the generosity of businesses like Harry Barker Inc, Carolina Canines is able to continue to serve our community with programs like Carolina Canines for Veterans, Carolina Canines, Carolina Canines for Therapy and Paws for Reading.  Not one of these programs would be possible without our donors, supporters and volunteers.

Thank you.  Two simple words that can’t be said enough.  Because of your generous support, George has a smile in his voice and a bounce in his step with his new service dog Ruth.  Andy can balance better with Service Dog Manna to pick up items he drops or retrieve the telephone when he needs it.  After two years of sleepless nights, Donald has Service Dog Holly to ease his night terrors and help him deal with everyday life.  Brian is more confident in public because of the skills his Service Dog Jada knows to help with his post traumatic stress disorder.  People in nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities are smiling with a visit from Carolina Canines for Therapy teams.  Children are learning to read better because of the Paws for Reading teams.   Thank you for your continued support and belief in the people we serve and the mission we do.

The Need.  The need is great and it continues. Census data estimates there are 32 million disabled adults (aged 18 or over) in the United States, plus another 5 million children and youth (under age 18).    The number of disabled U.S. Veterans has increased by 25% since 2001; 2.9 million U.S. Veterans.

The Wait. People are waiting for the gift of independence.   More people in our communities want a visit from a pet therapy team and children need your help to learn to read. 

The Ask.  In this season of giving, ask yourself what you can do to help someone in need.  Foster a service dog in training, sponsor a dog with a monthly financial gift, give an end-of-year gift, train and become a certified Carolina Canines for Therapy team, or volunteer.   Get involved and experience the joy of giving in a whole new way.

The Most Important Gift

It's so easy to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas.  Parents struggle to somehow, through all of the commercialism, teach their children that it is not about Santa, presents,Christmas trees, decorations, parties and sweet treats.  It seems to get harder each year.  The retail stores begin setting up Christmas Shops as early as September and the Christmas music begins playing before Thanksgiving! Black Friday and Cyber Monday ads flood the newspapers and internet trying to suck us into the spending frenzy.  How do you compete with that?   Christians, look to the Gospel of Luke and read the "Christmas Story" each year to their children as a reminder that this is the true meaning of Christmas.  As the story is read, one can't help but hear the voice of Linus from a Charlie Brown Christmas as he declares to Charlie Brown this true meaning of Christmas.  While the show first aired back in the 1960's, it's message may be even more relevant today.  So go ahead, click here to listen - really listen - to it's message.   We hope that you and your family are able to cleverly navigate through the chaos and smoke screens and keep your eyes on the prize of this glorious season.   It is, after all, the most important gift we will ever receive. 

Wishing you and your family a most joyous Christmas!  

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart."  ~ Washington Irving (1783-1859)