Paws and Think, Inc. 2020 Residual Grant Report
Paws and Think received a 2020 Residual Grant of $26,500. They submitted the following report on how the grant money was used.
- How did the unrestricted fund strengthen your organization?
Unrestricted gifts proved to be more important this year than ever before. Your gift ensured programming could continue while we adjusting to meet the new and everchanging needs of our community.
With these changes came many new program plans. Some of these include holding virtual visits, providing outside parades, doing window visits, creating training videos, sending cards, making dog cutout images, creating uplifting videos, and much more. What we learned is that this new programming takes more hours and resources to oversee, but the cost is worth it. It’s worth it because we have seen families break down and cry during distance visits after losing family members to Covid-19 and finding comfort in our furry therapists. We’ve seen our program partners cheer when they received one of our dog cutouts. We’ve heard sick, hospitalized children laugh for the first time in days while our therapy dogs showed off their skills during a virtual visit.
A substantial benefit of being a finalist is the exposure and prestige that comes along with it. Being able to say we have been an Impact 100 finalists two years in a row has laid the groundwork for other funders to take notice.
One of the most exciting possibilities to strengthen our organization this year was the development of dozens of training and program videos. This is a resource that we have previously not been able to utilize as a result of financial limitations. The residual grant was a significant amount and allowed us to create these videos that can be used for years to come.
The women of Impact 100 are incredible. If you are a finalist, the exposure,
financial support, and networking causes a large ripple effect for the organizations. Thank you for this amazing opportunity and for your support.
2. Describe the specific successes achieved as a result of receiving the unrestricted funds from Impact 100 Greater Indianapolis.
Although we weren’t able to fulfill all the goals of our original proposal at the $100,000 budget, many programs were completed using the residual grant funding. The residual grant was a significant amount and allowed us to do so much good in our community. The residual grant ensured all of the finalists were winners!
Your grant funding has made it so many kids, hospital staff, youth experiencing grief, and those giving their forensic interviews after suffering abuse have the unconditional love of a therapy dog.
Therapy dogs build bonds and produce positive outcomes for trauma victims in ways people can’t. They reduce loneliness, act as a comforting reminder that the danger is no longer present, and elicit positive emotions.
Because of you…we are helping so many maintain a positive mental outlook.
Our therapy dogs attended Camp Healing Tree’s family picnic this year and let kids opening discuss their grief while petting a furry friend who showed them nothing buy love with their wagging tails. We would not have had the resources to participate in this important camp without your funds.
We’ve been able to provide cutout images of our dogs for a dozen of our program partners-with more on their way. These cutouts are bringing many smiles and reminding our partners we are here for them and support them even if we can’t physically be in the room.
This is a tough time. But, we’ve continued to train our therapy teams so they can intervene with emotional support. We’ve continued to hold training classes and evaluations to ensure our teams are up-to-date on our new programming procedures.
We’ve been able provide virtual and in-person visits, send videos of support being played throughout the hospitals, and more. Thousands of individuals are being served from the resources you’ve provided.
To view some of the programming we’ve provided this year, go to:
https://youtu.be/iI-HOb4hi2U
Additionally, we were able to have therapy dogs visit Susie’s Advocacy Child
Advocacy Center for children who are giving their forensic interview after facing abuse. Although the in-person visits have had to stop for now due to Covid, we were able to provide these important services for the majority of the year. With no restricted funds for this partnership, the funding from Impact 100 made it possible for us to positively impact the lives of dozens of kids, families, and staff at this one facility.
So much has been made possible because of the women of Impact 100. We have lots of work to do as we continue to battle these mental health issues, but we aren’t slowing down. You’ve made sure we can do what is needed for those in our community and we thank you.
We are so excited to apply for Impact 100 again in 2021!