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Save the Date
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Behind the Scenes Tour of Monkey College
Thursday, April 28
6-7:30pm
$30 per person
Email Noelle to reserve your spot today!
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Greetings!
 Happy Spring! Even though it doesn't feel much warmer out yet in Boston, we have all begun to look forward to our favorite Spring fun and activities. Without a doubt, the most talked about fundraiser happening soon is our Red Sox Event. Be sure to read the article to find out more information.
We are proud to announce that we have received the 2011 Constant Contact All Star Award recognizing our online marketing and communication. This inspires us to continue to work hard to make our e-newsletters even better!
Don't worry- we didn't forget about the monkeys! This week's featured monkey, Dillon, is a real favorite around The Monkey College. Go to Meet Our Monkeys to read about her training and sweet personality.
Sincerely,
Noelle and all of your friends at Helping Hands Monkey Helpers
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Red Sox Fundraiser- all new this year!
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Our 6th Annual Boston Red Sox Outing will be held on Sunday, June 19th this year. Celebrate Father's Day while also supporting our Training and Placement Programs!
 The day will start at 11:30am with delicious snacks and drinks at the exclusive pre-event party hosted at our new location, Audubon Restaurant right by Fenway Park. This celebration is a great place to meet other Helping Hands supporters, mingle with staff and recipients, and bid on some fabulous silent auction items. Once the party is over we'll all head to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox take on the Milwaukee Brewers for a 1:05pm first pitch.
Tickets are $125 and include admission to our private party, food, open bar (mimosas, beer, and wine), two raffle tickets, your Red Sox game ticket, and a special treat for all dads who attend. If you've been before, you know this event is a must. If you haven't, then it's time to join us! Keep an eye out on our website for the link to purchase tickets and find out more information about sponsorship and other opportunities. Can't wait? Email Noelle today at noellel@monkeyhelpers.org to buy your ticket or volunteer your time to help!
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Program News and Updates
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Survey Summary
We got some excellent feedback from those of you who participated in our online survey. Many of you shared with us that you first found out about Helping Hands through word of mouth from friends and family- so keep spreading the word to help us reach even more people!
 As we are moving forward with our 2011 Development and Communications Plan we are keeping in mind much of what we learned from your answers. We look forward to continuing to develop our e-newsletter as a thoughtful way to share program news and updates with you. And based on the number of people who told us that fun and unique special events were their favorite, we have planned just that in the 2011 Red Sox Event!
Thank you again for your thoughts and insights- please do not hesitate to contact us at noellel@monkeyhelpers.org if there is anything else you would like to share.
What makes a great monkey helper applicant? 
There is a huge amount of effort that goes into the care and training of each monkey and The Placement Team applies the same amount of care and effort into making sure we match the right applicant with the right monkey. By now you have learned about the training process that each monkey goes through to become a life changing service animal to someone in need. Perhaps now you are wondering what requirements a person must meet to be an appropriate home for our program.
Here's a start: we ask that a person be one year post injury or diagnosis and that they spend most of their time in the home. This helps us figure out how much time a monkey helper will actually get to spend "working" and playing each day, and what kind of impact they would make on that person's life. Though our monkeys are trained to do a variety of tasks in the home, we always make sure that each applicant has a stable primary care attendant or family member who is willing to help out with the monkey's daily care.
Once we know that a person meets the above qualifications, we begin to talk to them about the level of commitment having a monkey requires, as well as the need for a sense of humor! The best kind of recipient is one who can laugh when there are a few hiccups during the first couple of months. One of our recipients recently told us this about her monkey Glassie, "she thinks laundry soap is body powder and should be applied generously to HER body."
In the end, we all know that the amount of work that goes into each placement is completely worth it. To be able to place one of our monkey helpers, always at no charge to the recipient, is truly priceless. You can find more about the application process, or even support an upcoming placement on our website.
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| Meet Our Monkeys |
|  Dillon is one of Helping Hands' most recent stars. She was even featured in this year's holiday card- we're just hoping the fame doesn't go to her head!
Dillon only recently came into training at Helping Hands after leaving her foster home. She has adjusted wonderfully to The Monkey College, and has many friends- both humans and monkeys alike.
 Her trainer, Jen, has just started working with Dillon in the first stage of training, The Cubicle. In here, monkeys learn how to do tasks by initially imitating their trainers and receiving a reward. Dillon has picked this up very quickly, and loves to learn things like placing a ring on a stick and a ball in a cup. This might not seem very relevant now, but all of this training will be helpful when she begins to put these skills to use and breaks down more complicated tasks.
As always, it is thanks to your support that monkeys like Dillon are able to train and become life changing helpers one day!
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Training Highlights
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|  Flip is one of the more advanced tasks taught here at The Monkey College. It is primarily practiced in The Apartment, the final stage of training. Similar to "sun" (flipping a light switch), most monkeys really enjoy turning pages, so the real challenge is teaching them to only flip one page at a time. This task can be taught with a magazine or book flat on a counter or propped up on a stand.
We recently saw the impact of this task when one of our recipients let us know how helpful this is as she takes college courses and needs to read and study her textbooks.
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Volunteer Spotlight
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Stoklosa Middle School- Lowell
A recent visit to Stoklosa Middle School in Lowell, MA allowed us to present to 350 middle school boys and girls. Our trainer, Natalie, accompanied by ChiChi the monkey, spoke with them about who we are and what we do. The students learned that while it is fun to see a monkey, you never want to have to need a monkey helper. Natalie used this opportunity to speak to them about spinal cord injury prevention tips with the hope that learning things like wearing a helmet and buckling up in the car will protect them from devastating injuries.
After the presentation, students were so excited about helping others that they have decided to collect supplies from our Monkey College wish list- and that makes them this month's Volunteer Spotlight. If you would like Helping Hands to come to your school or youth program please contact Noelle at noellel@monkeyhelpers.org or 617-787-4419 ext. 105.
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About Us
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Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, is a national 501 (c) 3 organization and member of Independent Charities of America. We place specially trained capuchin monkeys with individuals living with severe mobility impairments. Relying on private contributions, Helping Hands provides our service animals and their lifetime support free of charge.
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