AURORA, Colo. — A service dog can give families peace of mind as they navigate their day-to-day life. An Aurora nonprofit is doing its part to help families who have kids with disabilities.
“We were founded, more so, to create a service dog organization for children with disabilities,” said Keith Cassell, executive director of Pawsitive PAC Service Foundation.
Cassell and his wife, Genesee Edkins, founded the nonprofit in 2019, but training dogs for kids with disabilities was not the goal from the start. Cassell says he met the needs of what customers and the community were asking.
“We’ve recently seen an uptick in the autistic spectrum world, which is where the biggest need has been,” he said. “So, we have been doing a lot of service dogs for children on the spectrum.”
Cassell and Edkins teach the dogs a number of specialized skills to help children with disabilities.
“Sometimes the kids may have some issues where they may elope, which means they run off without being told they can do so,” said Cassell. “The dogs have to track those kids because they can get lost.”
There are a lot of out-of-pocket expenses that come with running a nonprofit. However, both Cassell and Edkins says the impact they have made on the community is well worth it.
“Our biggest things is that as long as these kids are getting these service dogs that they absolutely need, and the parents are getting that peace of mind, that’s our reward,” said Cassell.
The Pawsitive Pac Service Foundation is always looking for donations and sponsorships to help train the service dogs. You can find out how to give through their website.
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