PETS ON WHEELS-PETS TO SHUT INS

Pets on Wheels is a volunteer nonprofit organization providing friendly pet visits to senior residents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. Pets on Wheels is designed to enhance life enrichment programs provided for senior residents. Our pets bring so much love and joy to our lives, and when a pet owner shares that love with another person especially a senior, wonderful things begins to happen. It’s a simple act of kindness that begins with a smile, makes a day brighter, and can end in a great friendship between the resident, pet, and pet owner.

For many residents of nursing homes, the days can be long and lonely. Most residents do not receive continued family visits once living in a senior housing facility and are dependent on volunteers to bring them a sense of family and community. When volunteers share the love of their pet with senior residents, including Alzheimer and dementia patients, there are proven benefits of calming and easing stress, bringing back memories, a sense of home, and alleviating boredom. It makes the pet owner feel good about their volunteerism, and gives the pet an opportunity to share its unconditional love.

For some of our volunteers, pet visits are just the beginning of their work and have creatively reached out in additional ways to bring a sense of family and community to the seniors they visit. Some volunteers have taken the extra time to record and write stories of the resident’s previous pets, researched a past war hero’s time served, taken residents out to lunch, volunteered additional hours in the senior day care area, and performed special holiday pet shows.

Your gift will go towards helping us reach and recruit pet owners who have loving and gentle pets and want to give their time to visit with seniors and will build a solid foundation towards enhancing life enrichment programs.

Individual and corporate and car donations are welcome.

Pets on Wheels serves the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, and is a 501c3 nonprofit organization IRS# 36-4608158.

Call us at 612.919.5577 or e-mail us at MNPetsOnWheels@aol.com for more information.