Delta Society Beyond Limits Awards – Connie Gates & Katie
December 31st, 2011
CONNIE GATES of Huntsville, AL and her partner, Katie, a 12-year-old Golden Retriever, are one of five finalist teams for the Delta Society’s 2007 Beyond Limits Award as Pet Partners Team of the Year. They bring “unconditional acceptance, stress reduction and joy to residents and staff” at Hope Place in Huntsville, a shelter for woman and child victims of domestic violence, wrote one of their nominators. For the past ten years, Katie’s big, wagging Golden tail and her Golden smile have brought the sparkle back into the eyes of many children and parents, adults and seniors, in the shelter, in a local rehabilitation hospital, and in therapy services residences for emotionally disturbed children removed from their families and for neglected children without families. Connie is a co-founder of Huntsville’s Therapy Partners, Inc., and also serves on the board of the Greater Huntsville Humane Society, which generates many activities for Connie and Katie. They participate in the local Alzheimer’s walk, the annual Christmas parade, and in Therapy Partners’ speakers bureau, making presentations in schools about the work of therapy dogs. To vote for any of the five finalists, log on to www.deltasociety.org before November 5. Videos of all five finalists (Sarah Allen, Maggie Crawford, Connie Gates, Monica Payson, Karla Rose) can be viewed on YouTube.