Reading To Rover

On the East Bank
Held on the third Tuesday of each month
at the East Bank Regional Library
4747 W. Napoleon in Metairie
6:30pm-7:30pm

On the West Bank
Held on the second Sunday of each month
2751 Manhattan Blvd., Harvey
from 2:00pm-3:00pm

Events are now being planned in conjuction with the STAIR program. Please contact Fay Schultz for upcoming times and locations

Contact Fay Schultz at
fibrofay@cox.net
to confirm your slot at any of these
Reading To Rover
events.

OUR DEEPEST SYMPATHIES

to Brenda Reilly on the loss of her precious
Maxwell
Maxwell joined the VPP in 2002 and was a regular visitor at Ochsner Hospital. He was diagnosed in January with prostate cancer and metastasis of the lymph nodes. We are truly appreciative of all the joy Maxwell brought to the residents he visited.

and to Pam Bellone,
who lost her beloved little Patterdale Terrier,
JAKE
in April. Jake joined the VPP in 2004. He was a regular visitor at Ville St Marie. Jake's death was very unexpected.

Jake and Maxwell were very special and will be missed by all who met them. Our deepest sympathies to Pam and Brenda for the loss of her special boys.

Four Paw Salute

to VPP Program Coordinator,
Joyce Kleinfeldt.

This program was originally created in 1987 through a grant from the Mayor's office to the LA/SPCA and was known as the LA/SPCA Pet Therapy Program. The group was made up of one staff member from the SPCA and 3-4 volunteers. Joyce Kleinfeldt was one of those volunteers.

At the end of a year, the grant was not renewed, but the volunteers decided to continue with the program. The small group was being coordinated by Joyce and another volunteer. After a few months, the other coordinator moved out of the area, leaving Joyce with the option to either take on the responsibilities of the group by herself or just let the concept of an animal assisted therapy program in New Orleans die.

Fortunately, Joyce chose to take on the task alone. That was 1988. For the next few years Joyce made up the schedules, wrote the newsletters, selected the pets and did whatever was necessary to keep the group going. All of this was done at her own expense. In 2000, the Visiting Pet Program became an independent 501 C3 non-profit. Joyce was one of the "founding" members of the Board of Directors.

Unfortunately, Joyce is now dealing with some chronic health issues that prevent her from continuing as Program Coordinator. Joyce has been Program Coordinator for 23 years and she has done an absolutely wonderful job. Due to these chronic health issues Joyce has made the difficult decision to retire as Program Coordinator.

We are immensely grateful to Joyce for leading the Visiting Pet Program through over 2 decades service. Her hard work, dedication and commitment to the Visiting Pet Program is inspiring.

We appreciate Joyce's ongoing commitment to the Visiting Pet Program. Her experience is invaluable and we are so very fortunate to have access to her knowledge and understanding of animal assisted activities.

Joyce will continue to serve on the Board of Directors as "Chairwoman Emeritus". Joyce will also continue to participate in evaluation days. And she has graciously agreed to maintain our donation records.

A very Big Thank you to Joyce for working so very hard to help the Visiting Pet Program become what it is today. The VPP could not have made it without you.