Four-legged friends will be regular visitors at West Liberty-Salem Elementary this school year through a new program offered to students through Best Friends Pet Assisted Therapy.
WL-S Elementary Principal Aaron Hollar hosted a surprise staff meeting Tuesday to introduce staff to the program and to the dogs and their handlers.
Karen Zeigler, who retired from the school district in 2019, volunteers her time with her dog, Millie, and was a guest speaker during the presentation. She spent 19 years of her teaching tenure at WL-S.
She shared that the idea of having a therapy dog really started after the school shooting in the district. At that time, she realized how impactful the dogs were to students in the crisis situation.
When she retired, Millie was given to her and it all seemed to fall into place.
“I knew when I retired I wanted to give back to my community somehow,” Zeigler said.
“Serving with Millie and being able to volunteer at West Liberty-Salem brings everything full circle for me.”
Karen and Millie have been training October of 2020 and became a certified therapy dog team in June of 2021. They will begin volunteering with Best Friends Assisted Therapy at West Liberty-Salem and organizations throughout Champaign County.
Best Friends Pet Assisted Therapy have been educating and certifying volunteers and their own dogs for animal assisted therapy nationally since 2006. They serve in schools, retirement communities, veteran services, crisis intervention and people in need primarily in the Miami Valley.
Zeigler shared how special it will be to be back in the school volunteering where she spent so many years.
The core of Best Friends Pet Assisted Therapy is servitude. Each year, they choose an organization or worthy cause to support. Zeigler, who sits on the selection committee, chose West Liberty-Salem elementary educators to be one of this year’s recipients.
They gave 39 teachers $50 cash to put towards their classroom and supplies, a personalized mug, kind words of encouragement, and of course, a visit with their therapy dogs.
This fall, programs will include reading with Millie, teaching animal safety with young students, working with Guidance Counselor Matt Westfall, companionship and serving in crisis situations when needed.
“We are very much looking forward to Karen, Millie and all of their friends to visit with our staff and students in the future,” Hollar said. “We try to make school a fun, safe place for students to learn, and having visits from this group will certainly help with that goal. We are very thankful that there are volunteers like this in our community that want to help make the day better for our students.”