Create a space for autism service dog pups & kids

We help children w/autism via animal assisted therapy & assistance dog partnerships; funding is needed to create spaces for the children & pups to be together.

A fundraising campaign for North Star Foundation

North Star has been incorporated as a nonprofit with a mission to help children with autism through animal-assisted therapy and assistance dog placements for seventeen years, and in this time we have created 275 North Star teams and helped thousands of families to not just cope, but thrive with a child who faces the challenges of being on the spectrum. 

We are now ready to expand our services to include more children, and to enrich the therapeutic environments we offer them 

I am a child psychologist, and partnering the pups with the children we serve is my life's work. I would completely appreciate your kind support and I am happy to answer any questions anyone might have about our nonprofit services.

My own son, Dan, is on the autism spectrum, and despite (or because of) this difference he is a talented freelance film editor, graduating a few years ago with an MFA from USC's School of Cinematic Art. He now lends his talent to North Star by contributing to our mission to educate. Here is a video he put together to celebrate our most recent North Star kid/canine partnerships:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu4m4i3oJ2g

And here is a presentation we both gave at California State at San Bernardino:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gbV8s4tEcQ

We are now ready to expand our services and are seeking funding to create therapeutic spaces for our children and North Star pups in training to be together, and to be able to serve more children. 

I'll leave you with a picture of the North Star team of Shadow and the boy he serves, Jonathan, who has both Down Syndrome and autism. Jonathan has come very far with Shadow by his side...he is just one of our many success stories! 



 

     

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