Thanks to a generous grant from Brentwood resident Shirley McKernan and The Shirley McKernan Courage Foundation, the Southwest Regional Center of Canine Companions for Independence opened its new West Los Angeles field office in June. Canine Companions is a nonprofit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships.
Canine Companions assistance dogs are trained to help people ages five and older with a variety of physical and developmental disabilities. Children and adults with limited mobility receive help with practical tasks from their assistance dogs, who are trained to help retrieve dropped objects, pull manual wheelchairs and open doors. People who are deaf or hard of hearing use hearing dogs to alert them of smoke alarms, doorbells, kitchen timers and more. Assistance dogs also provide immeasurable emotional support to their human partners, especially to children, who often experience social isolation because of their disabilities. As part of its Wounded Veterans Initiative, Canine Companions provides assistance dogs to service members with disabilities. For veterans making a new start putting their lives back on track after an injury, an assistance dog can provide the help they need to regain independence.
Established in 1975 Canine Companions is celebrating its 35th birthday this year. The organization expects to place its 3,500th assistance dog in 2010.
“Canine Companions for Independence is growing every year,†explains CCI Southwest Region Executive Director Linda Valliant. “Thanks to The Shirley McKernan Courage Foundation our new facility in Westwood will help us expand further and better serve local clients with disabilities as well as wounded war veterans.â€
Volunteer opportunities are available with Canine Companions including puppy raising, outreach assistance and administrative tasks in the Westwood office. The organization receives no government funding and relies on donor support to provide assistance dogs, their training and ongoing follow-up support completely free of charge to its clients. Canine Companions can be reached at (310) 446-5700 or online at: www.cci.org.
