SLCC for W.A.G.S. 4 Kids

Support W.A.G.S 4 Kids by donating to this incredible cause!

Settler's Landing Charity Concert (SLCC) is a free admission event for anyone who wishes to attend. All proceeds raised before, during, and after this concert will be donated to W.A.G.S. 4 Kids. For more details on the event itself, please visit www.SLCC7723.com.

We have extended our initial goal to $35,000 because that is approximately what it costs W.A.G.S 4 Kids to train, place, and monitor one dog. We would love for this event to be solely responsible for the entire funding of a service dog, provided to a disabled child who needs and deserves one.

Founded in 2004, Working Animals Giving Service for Kids (W.A.G.S. 4 Kids) is dedicated to providing mobility and autism service dogs for children throughout Northeast and Central Ohio, utilizing an award-winning Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) accredited Cell Dog Training Program. Here is a bit of history and impact from the W.A.G.S. 4 Kids official website (www.wags4kids.org):

"W.A.G.S. 4 Kids is driven by the belief in early intervention and is dedicated to working with a family and child as early as there is a need and interest. Since our first placement in 2005, we have placed over 60 Service Dogs. As the only 501(c)(3) organization in Ohio that exclusively provides service dogs for children up to the age of 18, we provide niche services to families with nowhere else to go in seeking an animal that is custom-suited to their child’s needs. Our focus on training our dogs to best assist each individual child’s needs ensures an immediate impact on their quality of life. Though we intend to always enhance the wellness of a child, we often cannot quantify the effects our services have on the confidence, independence and empowerment of a child’s future. W.A.G.S. 4 Kids presents an opportunity for a child we see spending their life having things done to them and for them, to reach out physically and emotionally, and engage with the world around them.

Our very first placement was with Myles from Strongsville, a four-year-old boy living with Cerebral Palsy and paralysis of his left side. Myles was non-verbal since birth and communicated with simple Sign Language. W.A.G.S. dog AJ was partnered with Myles, and in the final phases of AJ’s training trainers worked exclusively with hand signs so that Myles would be able to communicate with AJ using his right hand. After the placement, Myles began to speak. His first word was not “Mommy” or “Daddy,” as parents hope to hear. Rather, Myles’ first word was “Come,” because he wanted to talk to his Service Dog, AJ. Since that time, when posting photos of children we serve alongside the dogs we’ve placed with them, we use the phrase “let the magic begin” because that’s the reality of what these dogs can do and be in the lives of children with disabilities. Beyond Myles, we have time and again seen the sense of autonomy service dogs can restore.

In 2007, W.A.G.S. began its partnership with ODRC in our award-winning accredited apprenticeship Service Dog Training Program. Today the program is housed in two different facilities – Grafton Correctional Institution in Grafton, Ohio, and Mansfield Correctional Institution in Mansfield, Ohio. With this program, the men that become inmate trainers are guided by the professional training staff of W.A.G.S. 4 Kids and those men work hard to change their own lives, prepare to re-enter society and learn what it means to make the dreams of children possible."