Animal Therapy Club 1st meeting 13 September 2017

Welcome Gisselle: President Tyra: Vice President Alayzza: Treasurer Officers Gisselle: President Tyra: Vice President Alayzza: Treasurer Yaritza: co-historian

Our mission is to inform students and the community the positive effects of animal therapy, the application of animal assistance in rehabilitation, and advocate for causes concerning people with disabilities and assistive animals. We volunteer at events where our trained therapy dogs owned by fellow students are invited to bring comfort and happiness. You do not need to own an animal to join, our organization is in need of members who can dedicate their time to help events run smoothly and ensure our animals are being treated properly by community members. We are NOT a bring your pets to school club. ALL animals MUST be EVALUATED for any and all EVENTS!!! About Us!

Goal Our Goal this semester is to create original and helpful events that allow people to engage with therapy animals and experience the positive effects they bring. We want to help students and their animals become certified pet teams so that there is more therapy animals in the community

Different types of Assistive animals

Service Dogs Are animals that perform a specific task for a disability. You MUST have a disability to own a service dog By ADA laws they are allowed EVERY WHERE. There are currently no specific paper work or program necessary to state that your dog is a service dog

Therapy Animals Therapy that involves animals as treatment. It is to improve a person's social, emotional and cognitive function. They are only allowed places where they are invited. (hospitals, nursing homes, schools) They must take a certification evaluation. FACTS:  In humans, petting a dog can trigger the release of the bonding hormone oxytocin.Feeling that fur can also lower your heart rate and blood pressure.

Emotional Support Animals A companion animal (a pet) in which provides therapeutic benefits or comfort to its owner. Any animal. No training needed Has to be prescribed to you in letter form by a professional (doctor, psychologist, counselor). NOT allowed in “no pet” places. Allowed in living areas where pets are other wise not and on planes.

Club requirements To become an active member of the club you must complete the following: Meetings: 5 Events: 4 Volunteer hours: 20 All hours including meetings, fundraisers, and events will be recorded on Vlink under service hours The person with the most hours collected at the end of the semester wins a secret prize as well as a certificate for Animal Therapy Clubs member of the semester!

Club dues Club dues will be due at the beginning of every semester that you paid. I.e., if you paid in the fall, your dues will be due again the following fall Fall 2016 members do not need to pay dues this semester due to inactivity on the clubs fault from last semester. The club dues are $5 due September 20 (next meeting) All fees will be turned in to our Treasurer at the end of the meetings after all orders of business have been addressed. Any questions or concerns regarding club dues can be brought up to any of the officers at the end of the meeting.

T-shirts T-shirts are not included in club dues they are a separate charge Fall 2016 members have already paid for their T-shirt for this school year Cost: Unknown We are waiting on the total number of returning and new members to get an estimate on the shirts. Next meeting we will have more details on the T-shirts Payment date will most likely be September 27 so we can get the T-shirts quickly!

Therapy Animal Recruitment Must be evaluated by Denise Silcox Can be any type of animal (cat, dog, rabbit, pig, etc) Must know basic obedience and love attention from all ages Sit Stay Leave it Laydown Not react to loud noises Talk to the president after the meeting if you feel that your animal is qualified to become part of the ATC pet team. Or if you are interested and want to know more about how to become an AFS pet team.

Officer Positions We are in search of a few new positions. If you are interested, I will be posting what is available and there is a list of duties in which those positions will be in charge of. Event coordinator Secretary Historian Co-Treasurer Co-Event Coordinator

Future Events Midterm De-stress event Finals De-stress event Thanksgiving Social. More ideas?

What should we fundraise for? Proper Therapy dog apparel? Community organizations? Animal rescues? Events/Socials?

Fundraiser Committee -Being a part of the fundraiser committee is a fast and easy way to earn hours! -when will we Fundrais? -11am-1pm -what will we be fundraising? -Food (Pizza, Donuts, Hot Cheetos w/cheese, ??) -Polaroids with pooches -Other ideas

HABE 1.124 HABE 1.124 HABE 1.124 HABE 1.124 HABE 1.124 HABE 1.124 HABE 1.124 HABE 1.124 HABE 1.124

Find us on the internet! -Vlink: Animal therapy Club