Service Dog Fundraiser for L’
L’S STORY
This is L’ (age 7)*. He is the youngest of a large family. He is an incredibly smart, caring, and loving little boy. You wouldn’t know it by the smile on his face all the trials he’s had to endure up to this point in his short life. He is an overcomer. He works hard in school to overcome some of his learning disabilities and tune out the sensory overload that bombards him daily.
While we know he is not his diagnoses, it might help if you understand the challenges he faces every day. He was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, ODD, severe anxiety, and he has sleep disturbances.
Years of therapies and other services have helped, but we know there are other tools he can utilize that will give him maximum support. It wasn’t until he had an opportunity to work one day with a therapy dog at OT that they realized how much the dog had calmed him. The potential impact of a service dog was evident. His therapists, doctors, and mom and dad all think a service dog would be a huge benefit for L’.
Right now, L’ cannot sleep through the night without anxiety and he wakes several times to make sure mom and dad are still there. In his seven years, he has not peacefully slept through the night. His anxiety also prevents him from playing in another room of the house away from mom or dad. He cannot go out to the store alone with mom. The sensory overload oftentimes causes meltdowns and he runs, which is potentially dangerous. These meltdowns are not your typical tantrums. If you look up Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), you will understand the magnitude of behavior we are talking about here. Family outings such as going to a birthday party, watching a sibling’s sporting event, or even church has proven to be too much for him to attend.
Simple tasks such as grocery shopping have to be planned so that L’ can stay home with mom or dad. His daily life is closing in around him as he is not able to participate safely outside the home in many situations. Even moments at home can trigger hours-long meltdowns. While he is working on self-regulation, he still has a long way to go.
ABOUT SERVICE DOGS
Service dogs can be trained to do many things and aid in many different areas. It’s extraordinary to know that they can be trained specifically to the needs of each person. Service dogs have been proven to calm a child and intervene at home and in public when a child encounters stressful situations due to anxiety and sensory overload. They can help circumvent a meltdown by applying pressure while also keeping distance between them and others (when met with strangers out in public). Service dogs can be trained to run after a child who has run away and corral them to keep them safe until the adult can get there. They can also help apply pressure when he sleeps along with companionship so he would not be lonely.
GOALS
Some of L’s goals of living an ordinary life with a service dog are:
- Sleep all night without waking, fear, or anxiety
- Go to bed without mom and dad right by his side
- Reduced rages associated with ODD
- Living a “normal” life out in public by attending church, family outings, birthday parties, grocery shopping, and maybe even participate on a sports team someday.
- Help keep him focused during school chapel, parties, and assemblies and be able to recover from the loud activities quickly
- Be able to be in another room of the house without mom or dad with him
We hope you can join us in praying for the perfect fit for L’ and for the funds for this to be provided. It’s not cheap and the service dog is NOT covered under medical insurance.
L’s wish is to have a brown, girl dog named Jasmine. When asked why, he responded, “I want it to be brown, like me.” He prefers the name Jasmine because he spent the first 2 years of his life, near a Jasmine tree in Haiti and jasmine calms him. His mom confirmed the first year he was home, jasmine was an essential oil that helped him go to sleep.
His family is working with an organization that handpicks the service dog to train it according to the specific needs of the child. From start to finish, the process takes about a year for the dog to be bred, picked, trained, and delivered. The cost of the dog and training is upwards of $25,000. We know every bit will help his family reach the goal.
Would you please join us in raising the necessary funds for this special service dog for L’? He deserves a life lived to the fullest without fear and anxiety holding him back. Let’s help him live daily life the rest of us, oftentimes, take for granted. We are opening up opportunities for the whole family to once again, attend church together, go out in public together, and not be hindered by meltdowns and fear.
Above all, we hope you will join us in prayer for provision. We seek God’s wisdom and discernment for what is best for L’. We believe this is another part of his support system that will enable him to live a fulfilling life.
It may seem like a small request, but we are praying for God to provide even the girl “brown like me” dog in a timely way. While the family doesn’t always get to choose color or sex of the dog, we pray God will understand the humble prayer of a little boy and meet his heart’s desire, just because God can.
They can request a girl, brown dog, but it might take longer to find the perfect match with such specific stipulations. We know God can do impossible things, and we are praying for Him to see to all the details of this process, in His timing. The sooner L’ receives his dog, the better, and we hope this request does not hinder the wait in any way.
We humbly ask for your prayers and financial support. L’s family provided the $1,000 deposit to the organization and will keep saving. The first installment of $13,200 is due when the dog is selected and passes the tests for service. The balance (approximately $11,000) will be due at the time of delivery of the trained service dog to the family. They need to reach their first goal of $13,200 ASAP. Will you help? Every little bit adds up and we are extremely grateful for each and every dollar given to help make this possible. Thank you for considering!
If you can’t give financially at this time, we would still covet your prayers for provision. Please feel free to share this with others who might want to support an extraordinary boy get the service dog he needs. Thank you.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Donations can be made directly through this website through the PayPal donate buttons. We are hoping to “fill the tree”. Since sitting under the Jasmine tree was a respite for him, we decided to use a tree as a symbolic representation of meeting the goal. We have green color leaves you may purchase for any denomination between $5-$75. Branches are also available. Larger donations will help fill in the trunk and special opportunities will be available for previous, loyal donors. (via email) Feel free to click the “custom donation” button if you want to give an amount that is not listed.
- $5 donation = green leaf
- $10 donation = green leaf
- $15 donation = green leaf
- $20 donation = green leaf
- $25 donation = green leaf
- $50 donation = green leaf
- $75 donation = green leaf
- $100 – $249 donation = branch
- $250 – $299 donation = 2 branches
- $300 + donation = part of the trunk (a great goal for a small group, office “lottery” pool, scout troop, or organization)
Our big financial goal is $26,000. We are on our way to reaching that thanks to YOU!
The amount donated as of 6/30/19: $2000
The amount donated as of 8/13/19: $2400
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Special opportunity for previous donors!
If you’d like to keep updated on our progress and receive a thank you note, please fill out the form with your information. (all donors will receive a thank you note with special gifts for donors over $100) We will send email updates and photos of L’ with his dog once he’s matched and united with his service dog.
Thank you for all your support in helping our family. We truly appreciate all the prayers and financial donations. It takes a village and we are humbled that you are part of ours!
*his initial is used to respect the privacy of his family since this will be shared on social media. If you personally know L’, we respectfully ask you NOT mention his service dog to him. He can’t quite grasp the concept of time and it would put undue stress on him to hear of the service dog and not understand that it is not arriving “tomorrow”. L’ has been asking for a dog for a long time. “Someday, maybe” is the answer we give him for now. The family will be sharing the good news with him as soon as the dog is on its way! Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. We appreciate it!
If you have any questions or would like to share your prayers, please feel free to email us at ServiceDogForL@gmail.com
Please share this website: www.ServiceDogForL.com