Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Hasbrouck Heights-based Mickey's Kids Foundation will sponsor a Canine Assistants service dog for a youngster from Elmwood Park.
Another youngster has become a Mickey's Kid. Hasbrouck Heights' Tom and Michele Meli, the founders of the Mickey's Kids Foundation, have raised enough funds to sponsor another Canine Assistants dog for a youngster in need. This year's recipient is Gabriel Sims of Elmwood Park, a youngster who suffers from a seizure disorder. Monday afternoon the Melis brought the Sims family and members of the Mickey's Kids family to the Oradell Animal Hospital in Paramus for a celebration. Mickey's Kids holds an annual gala event each spring with the goal of raising funds in order to sponsor a dog for a child on the waiting list with Canine Assistants, an organization which breeds and trains these special dogs. Canine Assistants will work with …
Monday, February 18, 2013
Hasbrouck Heights' Tom Meli, founder of the charitable organization, shares his experience of witnessing a Canine Assistants graduating class, where their newest recipient met his new 'best friend.'
Putting smiles on youngsters faces is what the Mickey's Kids foundation sets out to do with every effort that goes into sponsoring a Canine Assistants service dog for special needs children. Tom Meli, who founded the charitable foundation with his wife Michele, got to see many smiling faces this month while witnessing a Canine Assistants graduation where the foundation's most recent recipient Jakob Gibbemeyer, a youngster with cerebral palsy, met his new best friend, Blush. Meli said it was an incredible thing to be a part of, and very satisfying to see the smiles on the faces of these children who now have these very special dogs in their lives. Canine Assistants breeds and trains the dogs to respond to a multidude of commands. For …
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Liberty the official spokesdog for Canine Assistants has been making the rounds to some local schools educating the students all about service dogs and putting smiles on their faces too. Hasbrouck Heights' Michele and Tom Meli, who are the founders of the Mickey's Kids Foundation which raises funds in support of Canine Assistants, was recently given Liberty, an education and therapy dog, to promote awareness about the Canine Assistants cause. The organization, based in Atlanta, Georgia, raises and trains these dogs to answer more than 90 commands in order to be able to assist children with disabilities. Michele Meli brought Liberty to Corpus Christi School on Friday to visit the students during Spirit Day to teach them all about service …
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Edie's Dance Factory donated funds from its recent holiday show to Mickey's Kids for the group's continued work in raising money for Canine Assistants.
Another local group has come through helping Mickey's Kids get another step closer to getting a Canine Assistants dog for a child in need. Edie Ollwerther of Edie's Dance Factory in Wood-Ridge, and a group of her dancers presented Tom and Michele Meli, the founder's of the Mickey's Kids Foundation with a donation the school raised from it's recent holiday performance. Mickey's Kids works all year to raise money in order to fund a Canine Assistants dog for a child in need. Canine Assistants, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a non-profit organization which raises and breeds service dogs which aid children with disabilities. It costs roughly $25,000 to raise and train these dogs and Mickey's Kids works towards the goal of raising enough funds to…
Monday, October 22, 2012
The Hasbrouck Heights-based foundation presented sponsorship of a Canine Assistants service dog for young Jakob Gibbemeyer of Westfield during the first annual Service Dog Awareness day.
The Mickey’s Kids family continues to grow. This weekend the Hasbrouck Heights-based charitable foundation whose mission is to bring service dogs into the lives of youngsters in need took one more family under its wing by officially marking its sponsorship for young Jakob Gibbemeyer, of Westfield, who has cerebral palsy. Mickey’s Kids founders Tom and Michele Meli invited the whole community to join in the celebration Saturday afternoon at the parking lot of Shadow Food Mart, on the first annual Service Dog Awareness day. The Melis made a formal presentation to Jakob and his parents Lara and Alan as many other members of the Mickey’s Kids family stood by in support, which of course includes some of the service dogs themselves. Liberty, …
Saturday, October 13, 2012
"Service Dog Awareness" day is set for Saturday, Oct. 20 at Shadow Food Mart where Mickey's Kids will make a formal presentation to an area youngster they will sponsor so he can get a service dog.
Mickey's Kids Foundation continues to help make youngsters' dreams come true. Each year the foundation sets out to sponsor at least one child in need with a Canine Assistants service dog. On Saturday, Oct. 20, Mickey's Kids' founders Tom and Michele Meli will make a presentation to a Westfield youngster with cerebral palsy at Shadow Food Mart as part of "Service Dog Awareness Day." The Melis and their dog Liberty, the official spokesdog for Canine Assistants, an organization based in Georgia which raises service dogs for young people in need, will be on hand. Liberty is an education and therapy dog who helps spread awareness about Canine Assistance. Liberty just made an appearance this week on behalf of Canine Assistance as a Hasbrouck …
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Erin Bischoff, who suffers from a rare fragile bone disease, has been sponsored by Milkbone and Sam's Club to receive a Canine Assistants dog. Her 6th grade classmates, school officials and family members accompanied her at a special presentation.
Hasbrouck Heights sixth grader Erin Bischoff always has a lot of support in her family, friends and the school community. But soon the youngster will be getting yet one more best friend, a furry one in fact, who will be by her side day and night. Young Bischoff, who suffers from a rare fragile bone disease which has her wheel-chair bound, has been sponsored by Milkbone and Sam's Club to receive a Canine Assistants dog, a special dog that is breeded and trained to assist youngsters who have disabilities. On Wednesday, Erin and her family were joined by dozens of her middle school classmates, her principal Joe Mastropietro, Superintendent Mark Porto and many other members of the Hasbrouck Heights school community in celebration of a special …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Mickey's Kids' new "spokes dog" Liberty made her first public appearance on behalf of Canine Assistants, accepting a donation from 7-year old Alexa Papasavas who raised funds by hosting a lemonade stand.
A new furry face joined the founders of Mickey's Kids Monday as they accepted a donation from 7-year-old Alexa Papasavas, who handed over the profits from her lemonade stand for a good cause. Liberty, an education and therapy dog of Canine Assistants, the Georgia-based organization which raises service dogs for children in need, is the new "spokes dog" for the Heights-based Mickey’s Kids Foundation. Monday was her first act of service in the new role as young Alexa handed Mickey's Kids founders Tom and Michele Meli the $60 she raised from her lemonade stand. The Corpus Christi School student raised the funds in just a little more than an hour, her mother Carla Papasavas said. She had set up her lemonade stand outside her family’s …
Monday, March 19, 2012
Heights-based foundation Mickey's Kids hosts annual gala event in support of Canine Assistants, to fund a service dog for a child in need.
It was a lively night of dancing, music, laughter, and friendship as hundreds of supporters of the Heights-based Mickey’s Kids Foundation came together Friday night with the goal of raising funds to help unite a child in need with a very special canine. Among the many guests at Ill Villaggio in Carlstadt, where the fifth annual “Dancing Under the Stars” gala benefit was held, were some extraordinary dogs – raised and trained by Canine Assistants, a Georgia-based organization that is the main charity which Mickey’s Kids supports. "It's as though these dogs have psychic powers," said Tom Meli, founder of Mickey's Kids along with his wife Michele, as he explained the many amazing things that Canine Assistants dogs are trained to do. These …
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Benefit proceeds will help fund a dog for a child in need
Mickey’s Kids Foundation is gearing up for its annual gala benefit event set for Friday, March 16 at Il Villaggio on Route 17 North in Carlstadt, with the goal of raising enough funds for Canine Assistants, an organization based in Georgia which raises and trains service dogs for children with disabilities, to supply another child in need with a new best friend. Last year, Mickey’s Kids, which is founded by Heights couple Tom and Michele Meli, raised $32,000 through its annual gala which enabled young Danny Garafalo of Union County, who suffers from Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, to get his dog K.D. last spring. As Danny’s mother Jennifer has told Patch previously, the dog has made a world of difference in his life. The Melis also helped …
Thomas Meli
6:15 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
I wish everyone could go down to Georgia and see what this wonderful organization does! Just look at the pictures and it sums it up! Thanks Patch for the article. more ›