Margaret and Carolyn and we have been volunteering at Victoria Gardens since 2007.
After we both retired from teaching, we started looking for volunteering opportunities. Because of our love of dogs, the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program was the perfect choice.
Over the years, we have had 8 dogs in the program. Our current therapy dogs are Penny (our 14 year old Italian Greyhound), Manu (our 10 year old Spanish Greyhound) and Lola (our 6 year old retired racing greyhound).
We also do weekly visits to the Palliative Care ward at St. Peter’s Hospital and the Hematology unit at Juravinski Hospital.
We love our visits and feel they always provide a win-win-win situation. Firstly, our dogs love to be petted and doted on! Secondly, the residents/patients/staff are happy to see/talk to/hug/pet the dogs! And finally, we love seeing the smiles our dogs bring and love knowing we make a difference in someone’s day.
