Roxy Reporter Back To School Edition - Fall 2017
This edition is in honor of all of the dedicated teachers, curious & hard working students, supportive parents, and our volunteer teams who love to visit school children of all ages.
New website address
After several months of hard work and dedication, we are delighted to officially announce our new web address www.roxytherapydogs.org. This update follows our recent organizational name and logo change.
2017 Team Photo
We are so excited to share our 2017 Roxy Therapy Dogs (RTD) organizational photo! These are the wonderful people (and dogs) that allow us to comfort and support so many children in our community. Thank you for your continued support of our mission and our organization!
Welcome back! From the Roxy Literacy Program Director
With the new school year upon us our Roxy Therapy Dog teams are very excited to be reconnecting with their existing teachers and starting new assignments! We are very excited with the start of this school year and the enthusiasm we have seen across the schools with an all time record request for new teams!! Last year our teams saw almost 100 classrooms weekly and impacted the lives of almost 2,000 students. This is an accomplishment we all should be very proud of. Based off of the excitement and enthusiasm for our program already we can’t wait to see what we can accomplish this school year.
As you know some students can become nervous and stressed when reading to others. However, when our Roxy Therapy Dogs enter the classroom, the children become less stressed, less self-conscious and more confident as dogs are non-judgmental. Before long the students are starting to look forward to the reading experience as they are going to read to their new friend. We have also seen the same benefits as we visit the high school Stress Management and Bereavement Support Groups as well.
We look forward to providing updates as the school year progresses on the positive impacts our Therapy Dog Program has made each and every day they visit a classroom.
Thank you for your support!
Phyllis Mikolaj, Director of Literacy, Roxy Therapy Dogs
A Book For Holly
A book written by Mrs. Fillette's First Grade Class at Buckingham Elementary School for Holly, one of the Roxy therapy dogs. To view the book, click on the title page below.
Happy Retirement to Maggie Sivak and Welcome Melissa D’Amato!
Maggie Sivak has been the Courthouse Therapy Dogs (CTD) Director for the past year and has been with RTD for 10 years. She is leaving her position as director to join her husband in retirement but she is not leaving RTD as a volunteer. We appreciate all that Maggie has done for our Courthouse Therapy Dogs program over the past year and wish her well in her much- deserved retirement!
Melissa D'Amato
We are happy to welcome Melissa D'Amato as our new Director of the Courthouse Therapy Dogs program! Melissa has been with RTD for several years as a School Ambassador for four CBSD elementary schools and we are thrilled to have her take on this new role!
Melissa was first introduced to RTD through her children. She has a son and a daughter who were fortunate enough to have teams visit their classrooms. “I witnessed first- hand how connected they became to the pups and how it truly helped them improve as readers.”
Melissa knew then that she wanted to give back to such a great organization and for over two years she has been a RTD School Ambassador for several CBSD elementary schools.
When she’s not volunteering with Roxy Therapy Dogs, Melissa currently works full time at Berkadia as a project manager and has been with the company for 20 years!
“I truly feel honored to work with the exceptional people of RTD and look forward to expanding my role.”
CB WEST Interact Students and RTD Celebrate End of Year Party
Many, many thanks to the wonderful students in the CB West Interact Club! Not only did they give a very generous donation to RTD, but they also made dog biscuits to raise money for us and they put together a beautiful scrapbook of our dogs for the children at the courthouse to look at and enjoy while they wait to testify before the judge. This book means more to those children than any of us could possibly know and we are so thankful for all of the students and their efforts.
Compassionate Care with Tails: How to Create or Revive a Pet Therapy Program
Karen Langley (Volunteer Services Director at Doylestown Hospital) and Joyce Rivas (Animal Assisted Activity Chair at Doylestown Hospital and Director of Roxy's Hospital Therapy Dogs Program) were chosen to do a presentation on Sunday, Sept 24 at the national annual conference of the American Hospital Association for Volunteer Services professionals in Phoenix. Topic of presentation is "Compassionate Care with Tails: How to Create or Revive a Pet Therapy program."
Joyce Rivas
Joyce Rivas, Animal Assisted Activity Chair, Doylestown Hospital, Doylestown, PA – AHVRP Member Since 2017
Joyce is Animal Assisted Activity Chair at Doylestown Hospital. Doylestown Hospital’s program has grown from two dogs to twenty, orientation process and materials were upgraded, website content and permanent therapy dog photography exhibit were created, and training programs were conducted on subjects like canine body language, human body language, safety, and zoonosis.
She is currently a program director at Roxy Therapy Dogs; board membership pending and current board member at Equorum et Plus Foundation (horse rescue). She earned her BA in Advertising at Penn State and MBA in Marketing at Temple University, and was a Temple graduate school lecturer for five years.
Karen Langley
Karen Langley, Director of Volunteer Services, Doylestown Hospital, Doylestown, PA – AHVRP Member Since 2007
Karen began her career as a volunteer manager for the Chapel Hill YMCA during her undergraduate years. After twenty years as a social worker with various populations and settings, Karen joined Doylestown Hospital as the social worker and Volunteer Coordinator for the Hospice Program.
Karen became the Director of Volunteer Services for Doylestown Health eleven years ago and she now manages all aspects of a thriving volunteer program involving more than 1,000 volunteers in 80 areas of the health system. She is the proud mother of two adult sons and Dixie, the four-year-old Papillion Karen rescued from a local shelter.
We Support the Doylestown Farmer's Market
CBFYMCA Reading Camp with Roxy Dogs
Oscar and Maggie
Summer Reading Camp at the Central Bucks Family YMCA is designed to motivate young readers in a fun and engaging environment. Campers learn to employ strategies for comprehension and improve fluency, phonics and vocabulary through a variety of leveled texts and literacy activities. It is designed for students entering first and second grade.
Roxy dogs have come to this camp for the past few years to engage children as they read aloud among their peers in a safe and comfortable setting. It has been a very positive experience for both the children and the dogs!
This was Sara and Oscar's (black lab) first Roxy event! Bullet (white Whippet), Keeper (Golden Retriever) and little Maggie (Toy Poodle) helped cheer Oscar on!
Bullet and Keeper
Welcome Our New Therapy Teams!
Kylie and Hallie will be missed but never forgotten
Our Roxy family lost two wonderful dogs this Summer, sisters Kylie and Hallie. Please see the note below from their owner/handler, Donna:
“We have lost our two beloved Leonberger sisters, Kylie and Hallie. If you were lucky enough to meet these sweet girls, then you know how much joy and how many smiles they brought to so many people, children and adults alike.”
– Donna Law, Mom to Hallie & Kylie, the Leonbergers
Kylie and Hallie
RTD Testimonials
“NOVA and NOVA’s Victim Advocacy Department value the Roxy Therapy Dog program immensely for the services that they provide to child victims and their families that are required to participate in the criminal justice process. The presence of the Roxy Therapy Dog team provides comfort, support, and a much needed distraction for children who are testifying in a criminal court case.
Those children are often observed eagerly inquiring about the dog’s favorite activities, drawing portraits of the dogs, or laying on the floor petting them. The therapy dog teams bring a positive energy to the room that can alter the atmosphere and provide the children with a much deserved reprieve from stress and anxiety associated with navigating the criminal justice process. The Roxy Therapy dog teams not only provide great comfort and joy to child victims and their families, but in doing so, also to the professionals working alongside them throughout the process.
Thank you Roxy Therapy Dogs for making such important and memorable impacts on the children of Bucks County!”
Steve Doerner
Victim Advocate Coordinator
Network of Victim Assistance (NOVA)
Roxy Fundraising with Amazon
Did you know that you can raise money for Roxy Therapy Dogs just by shopping on Amazon? Use smile.amazon.com, and select Roxy Therapy Dogs as your charity of choice. Purchases made on Amazon will donate a portion to us, at no additional cost to you! Happy Shopping!
Roxy Fundraising with the Walk For A Dog App
Walk for a Dog is the app that harnesses the energy of the millions of people who walk their dogs every day to create a social good—raising money for animal shelters and rescues across the country. It’s easy, search for Roxy Therapy Dogs and don't just take your dog for a walk. Take your Walk for a Dog every day!! Get the FREE App at Wooftrax.com, and follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/walkforadog.
Happy Birthday!
Say Happy Birthday to your favorite Roxy Dogs next time you see them! All of their photos on our website.
September
Star, Titan, Roxy, Fiona, Sophie
October
Luke, Irina, Gracie M., Holly, Teddy V., Hope, Taco
November
Buddy D., Theo, Jack
Spoil Your Dog for National Dog Week
National Dog Week is the last full week of September. This holiday celebrates our best friends, but also serves to educate people to be responsible and loving dog owners. To celebrate this week, take your dog for a walk, give an extra treat, or a new toy.
National School Backpack Awareness Day on September 20
Students, parents, educators, school administrators, and community members will learn safety tips to stay protected from back pain throughout life.
National Family Health & Fitness Day
National Family Health & Fitness Day is the last Saturday in September. This day promotes family involvement in physical activity in support of one of the goals of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health.
Be Like Bud
Bud and his friends are no ordinary dogs! Get a glimpse into the lives of the extraordinary Roxy Reading Therapy Dogs and find out how you can be just like them!
Book: $15.00 Donation Plus Shipping
Be Like Bud is a great book for children and dog lovers! Click here to find out more.
Roxy Therapy Dog's Mission
Bringing comfort to children, enhancing the experience of learning, and enriching the lives of canine and human volunteers.
We welcome your feedback as well as any Roxy Therapy Dog stories you or your child would like to share with us. Please contact Sharon Fleck at sharon@roxytherapydogs.org
© 2017 Roxy Therapy Dogs. All rights reserved