school visits

Joie, a Walk ‘N Roll Dog Ready for More School Visits!

Posted by Barbara Techel

img_5984Joie content and happy as the kids from Trinity Lutheran School lined up to pet her after our presentation. More photos on Facebook.

Kim, a teacher at Trinity Lutheran sent me some pictures she took while I was at their school last Friday with Joie for our first presentation. As I wrote last week, the visit went well and Joie seemed to do very well with all the kids full of energy.

I don’t know why, but I never imagined that I’d do this type of work again after Frankie passed away. While I was open to this again, I also wanted to be sure it was right for Joie. I was hesitant as to how to update my program also, but once I agreed to do the visit, it all came together!  I have to say, I was on cloud nine after our presentation last week. Since Joie also did well, I am now looking forward to doing more visits again.

I don’t know as I will do quite as many as I did with Frankie, but I absolutely want to do some as it really brought me much joy to see the kids so happy to meet Joie and to learn the lessons we had to  teach. Thank you, Trinity Lutheran for being the school that helped lead the way for a new rolling dog to set out on an adventure to touch the lives of more children in her own unique and special way.

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Joie’s First School Visit a Success!

Posted by Barbara Techel

Joie in tshirt 1200Joie and I are back home after our visit to Trinity Lutheran School! She did very well and as you can imagine, she was a big hit. The gymnasium was lined with posters of “Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Dog”  and posters announcing “meet the author, May 10th” which were done by the older students.

At the end of the presentation, Mrs. K presented Joie with a gift from the students.  And what you see Joie wearing in the photo is the very special and sweet gift.  It is Trinity Lutheran School’s t-shirt and all the kids signed it!  It is so precious and yes, I got tears in my eyes when I opened the gift.

tshirt collageThank you to all the students and teachers, and principal Greg and Mrs. K for such a warm and kind welcome.  As I told the students, they were the test school and if Joie did well I’d be open to visiting more schools in the future with Joie. They seemed pretty excited to be the school who started a new “walk ‘n roll dog” rolling into a new adventure.

I hope to share a few more pictures from the morning that another teacher  took and will be sending me. It is tricky when kids are involved as you have to have permission to share their photos, so will see what I can share.  But the morning was a success and my heart smiles.

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The Adventure Continues. A New School Presentation Starring Joie!

Posted by Barbara Techel

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Yesterday I worked all day updating my presentation that I used to do with Frankie for school’s. Joie will now take the lead as the star of the show following in Frankie’s tire tracks. Still crossing my fingers all goes well and that Joie will enjoy a few outings to school’s if they will have us.

Trinity Lutheran will be having us visit next Friday, May 10th. They will be the big test for little Joie. I’m starting to get excited now that I practiced my presentation today. I’ll practice a few more times before then, but so far, so good.

It was fun choosing photos of Joie to show kids that even with a disability she can do many of the same things as dogs who walk on all four paws– and the lesson for them being that they can too, no matter their challenges.  I shouldn’t be surprised I’ve already built up quite a library of photos of sweet face, clown, Joie– but what fun I had choosing which shots to turn into slides.  Thought I’d share some of them with you, too.

I’ll still use Frankie’s books and read from the first one I wrote about her. In regards to instilling in children to make a difference despite challenges, I updated my talk to include National Walk ‘N Roll Dog Day and the Frankie Wheelchair Fund.

I smile thinking about how this all came together. Never did I think after Frankie passed I’d be doing this again… but I am… and it feels good. The adventure continues.

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Stay tuned tomorrow for my interview on Almost Perfect Pets: Disabled Pets and the People Who Love Them blog.  Also today made a donation from the Frankie Wheelchair Fund for a Dachshund named Bam Bam!  She will get her wheels soon!  Love when I get to do this!  If you’d like to help in our efforts with a donation please feel free to visit our website to make a contribution. As always, so grateful for our donors to make this all possible.

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