Small Town Love

Dear Harmony and Surrounding Communities,
Thank you.  We are deeply moved by the outpouring of support you have shown our family this weekend.  This weekend we held our multi-family garage sale in Harmony, MN where all funds raised went to pay for Charlie's Autism service dog.  We had at least 5 families participate in our sale with several people donating items as well.  It was a great weekend for a garage sale, the weather was perfect.

The sale was advertised the week before by word of mouth, flyers around the community as well as an article in the Bluff Country Newspaper.  The sale was attended by many and we rarely had a lull in either day of the sale.  I helped at the sale all weekend while my husband watched our boys and taking them on various adventures.  I was brought to tears several times when people would stop by and say they were praying for us, so excited for us or even a couple people stopped to say they had been looking for our sale just to stop by and donate money to our cause.

We were amazed at the end result of the fundraiser sale.  A few small communities came together and made a huge difference.  Because of all of you, we raised $1747 in two days.  Words cannot express how incredibly thankful we are to all of you who helped make that possible.  Thank you.

Charlie sporting his new shirt

Gina Ommen-Flab of Harmony, and her sons, Oliver & Hunter show off their Paws for Autism shirts at the sale this weekend

In Bluff Country News

Charlie and Sunny made the paper once again. I was interviewed for an article to run in Bluff Country News to prep fo our upcoming fundraiser garage sale next weekend in Harmony, MN. The article outlines why we are having the fundraiser and where we're at with the process to get Sunny trained.

You can find the article here: http://www.bluffcountrynews.com/Content/Default/Local-news-and-features/Article/Man-s-best-friend-helping-child-with-autism/-3/554/68485

Join us in Harmony, MN for our multi-family garage sale June 22-24 and then again June 30-July 1 in Rochester, MN! Please share our story with others!!

Beat the Heat

We were told a few weeks ago that Sunny likes to play in the water.  Charlie wanted to show Sunny how he plays in the water at home.  We filled up the kiddie pool and invited Sunny over to beat the heat with us.  It's been hot and muggy in Southern Minnesota this last week so some pool time was perfect for tonight.


Sunny was a little reserved at first.  But the boys showed her how they splash and have fun and she soon joined in.

Checking it out

Not so sure about sitting in the pool

The boys loved showing her some fun

She is definitely a playful girl and likes to have fun.  Mike showed us how to handle Sunny if she gets a little "too playful" when we're playing at home and the commands to use consistently so she learns what we want from her.

Crouched down and ready to play

Sunny soon joined in the fun and did some splashing of her own!  Charlie thought it was pretty funny that Sunny likes to splash just like him.


And we can't end our visit without a little calming down with hugs and belly rubs!

Field Trip

We had a change in schedule this week.  Sunny made a visit this evening instead of her usual Thursday visit.  The boys got to take Sunny to the park.

How many boys does it take to walk a dog?!

Luckily, Mike had the long rope lead he uses to train Sunny to track and all 3 boys were able to help walk Sunny to the park.  Sunny watched the boys play at the park for a short time and Charlie kept checking in on her.

Charlie was proud that he got to help walk Sunny home from the park too

Charlie gave Sunny good-bye hugs tonight and was bummed to see her go.  As she was getting back into the car, Charlie told me he missed Sunny already.  He asks us regularly when Sunny will come live with us.  He thinks about her often and loves these weekly visits.  

Fundraising

So you may have heard me mention in a previous post that getting a service dog is not easy and it's not cheap.  We had previously been on a wait list with an agency who basically covered all of the costs of a service dog, alleviating that struggle from the family.  But as you can imagine- everyone wanted on that list and the wait list was 2.5-3 years long for an Autism Service Dog.  Along came our current situation where the cost was substantially larger (keep in mind, yet so much smaller than other service dog training groups where $25,000+ wasn't unheard of).  We are looking at the $12,000 range.  We knew up front we would need help with this endeavor financially- which was hard for us to ask help.

We have had a couple of fundraising opportunities over the last month or so.  Our custom-made t-shirt fundraiser just wrapped up yesterday and was more amazing than I could have imagined.  We sold 74 shirts and raised $746.18!  Like I said, amazing.  We have also had an online fundraiser running from the beginning and will likely keep that going through the training of the dog:    https://www.youcaring.com/charlieking-801310

We are so thrilled with people's willingness to help.  We will continue to have fundraisers over the coming months to help us get to our goal amount and bring Sunny home after her training is complete.  Some upcoming events you may be interested in:
LulaRoe Fundraiser: Online 6/8 and in person 6/12 in Rochester, MN
Multi-Family Garage Sale: June 22-24 in Harmony, MN and then June 29-July1 in Rochester, MN

If you want specific details on either of these fundraising events, please connect with me (either here, FB, or email: kayla.king17@gmail.com) and I will be happy to get you the information you need.  We are constantly working on more ideas for further down the road so stay tuned!

Let the Bonding Begin!

Our weekly visit with Sunny!  Sunny will begin standard and advanced obedience training next week where she will hone her skills in recognizing signs to go with the commands.  She'll learn the basics such as sit, stay, down, but also more out of the normal commands that will be useful for Charlie such as block and cover where Sunny will position herself in front of or behind Charlie to give him reassurance (especially in the community), confidence and help him calm if he's starting to escalate.

Such sweet love

 In late June or July Tyler and I will begin to learn how to handle Sunny and go through different situations with her, learn signals and commands and become more comfortable with her in general.

Charlie giving Sunny the command to lay down

Treats for a job well done

Charlie had treats in his shirt pocket for her

Charlie teaching Sunny to crawl

In the coming weeks we will start meeting Sunny in different locations where Charlie is comfortable (the park, going for walks, etc) to better acclimate them with each other and in different scenarios, not just at our home.  We will also be able to have Sunny come visit for longer periods of time without the trainer staying with her, so Sunny will start to recognize us as part of her "pack."

Just hanging out together in the sun