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Save the Date
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Behind the Scenes Tour of Monkey College
Wednesday, July 13th
6-7:30pm
$30 per person
Tickets are limited, so email or call (617) 787-4419 now to book your spot!
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Jeep Rally
| | Visit JeepRally.org
to learn about this group who has decided to donate proceeds from their upcoming event to us!
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Greetings!
As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day this week, we are reminded of our own brand of independence that our special service animals bring to recipients all across the United States. Your support of our program helps us change lives of more people every day- thank you!
We wish you and your family a safe and relaxing 4th of July!
Sincerely,
Your friends at Helping Hands Monkey Helpers
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Event Wrap Up
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6th Annual Red Sox Fundraiser
We were thrilled to host 100 people at Audubon Circle in Boston on Father's Day for our annual Red Sox fundraiser. Our new event location was a big hit; our guests loved everything from the decor to the food and drinks! Thanks in part to a successful silent auction and raffle run during the event, we were able to raise over $16,000 to be used for our monkey helper Training and Placement Programs. To top it all off, many of our guests made it to Fenway Park in time to see the Bruins walk around the field with the Stanley Cup which is back in Boston for the first time since 1972. Oh yeah, the Red Sox win over the Brewers was great too!
We've created a quick 7  question survey for you to fill out to give us feedback about our event. It's not only for people who were able to attend the event, but also for those of you who couldn't make it. We'll keep the survey open until July 22nd, and keep your ideas in mind as we plan future events.
We would like to say a big thank you from the staff and monkeys to all who attended and donated to this fundraiser.
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Helping Hands Festivale - September 24th
| | The Event Committee is hard at work putting together a follow-up event to last year's successful Festivale fundraiser. We will once again be featuring food from some of Boston's best restaurants, drinks for all, a variety of music, and most importantly fun! This year we will also feature an online auction for our supporters who cannot make it to Boston for the evening. We've already started to compile an exciting list of items - keep an eye out for more information to follow!
The event details are as follows:
Festivale Saturday, September 24th, 2011 6-9pm (VIP reception 5-6pm) WGBH Studios, Brighton, MA
If you are already on our mailing list, be on the lookout for the save the date to hit your mailboxes in the next weeks. To be added to our mailing list for future invitations, please click here. Questions? Want to become involved? Contact Andrea at development@monkeyhelpers.org for more information. |
| Meet Our Monkeys |
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Daisy
Daisy is by far one of the cutest monkeys here at The Monkey College. She has a sweet, playful personality and rolls around and plays whenever staff enters her monkey dorm room to say hi!
 She has recently returned from being placed with a recipient for quite some time, and is now back at our training facility for a "refresher course" in between placements. She's working with her trainer, Alison, in the final stage of training called The Apartment. Here she practices more complex tasks to prepare for her next placement. She particularly loves pushing buttons which means working the DVD and CD players is extra fun for her!
One of the best things about our monkey helpers is the fact that they are often able to help more than one person during their 30-35 year lifespan. If for some reason a monkey should need to come back to The Monkey College, like Daisy did, they can be placed again with another qualified applicant. It is thanks to our generous donors' support that these service animals are placed free of charge to our recipients. Click here to donate now.
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Training Highlights
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Itch
Itch is one of the more complex tasks that our monkey helpers learn. Taught in The Apartment, they will eventually be able to gently scratch an itch on a person's face with a soft cloth using facial cues.
 This task is initially taught using an "itch board" with tape on it so the monkey can get used the feeling and motion needed to use the itch cloth. From there, the trainers start putting tape on their arm and asking the monkeys to "itch". As the pieces of tape are made smaller and smaller, they eventually move them up to their face where they introduce facial cues such as lifting up their chin to show the monkey where to use the itch cloth.
Thought this may seem like an odd task to teach monkey helpers, it becomes invaluable when a person who is not able to move their arms is home alone and has an itch on one of the few parts of their body they can feel.
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Helping Hands Team Spotlight
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|  After four years of service to Helping Hands, first as a trainer and then as our Development Coordinator, Noelle Schuyler is leaving to start a new chapter in her life.
We are grateful for her contributions and hard work that have helped us grow our development and communication efforts. Many of you have had the chance to work with Noelle or meet her at special events or a Behind the Scenes Tour and know why we are so sad to see her go.
Please join us in wishing Noelle the very best for health and happiness in the future!
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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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