MINNEAPOLIS – (January 9, 2019) – Children’s Minnesota received a $30,000 grant from PetSmart Charities to support the health care system’s Pets Assisting with Healing program in 2020. The grant will help fund program-related expenses including staffing, pet acquisition, training costs, equipment and supplies.
“We’re so thankful for this generous grant from PetSmart Charities which will help us provide a better experience to patients and families,” said Joy Johnson-Lind, senior director of child and family services at Children’s Minnesota. “As a nonprofit pediatric health system, we rely on the community to support us in offering unique services that make kids feel more at home and support them on their medical journey.”
Pets Assisting with Healing is a volunteer service offered at both the Children’s Minnesota hospitals in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The program aims to normalize the hospital environment by supporting a human-animal bond; encouraging conversation and interaction; and simply brightening the days of patients, families and staff. The program also helps motivate kids with their occupational, speech or physical therapy goals.
“As the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, we recognize the unique connection between pets and people and how it improves quality of life in many ways,” said Jenny Aho, regional relationship manager at PetSmart Charities. “We’re excited to support the Pets Assisting with Healing program that shows just how impactful the healing power of pets can be.”
About Children’s Minnesota
Children’s Minnesota is the seventh largest pediatric health system in the United States and the only health system in Minnesota to provide care exclusively to children, from before birth through young adulthood. An independent and not-for-profit system since 1924, Children’s serves kids throughout the Upper Midwest at two free-standing hospitals, 12 primary and specialty care clinics and six rehabilitation sites. Additionally, Children’s is Minnesota’s only Level I pediatric trauma center inside a hospital dedicated solely to children. Children’s maintains its longstanding commitment to the community to improve children’s health by providing high-quality, family-centered pediatric services and advancing those efforts through research and education. This work is made possible in large part by generous philanthropic and volunteer support from individuals and organizations throughout the state and region. An award-winning health system, Children’s received Magnet® recognition from The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and was verified as a Level I Children’s Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons in 2018. Additionally, Children’s is regularly ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a top children’s hospital. Please visit childrensMN.org.
About PetSmart Charities
PetSmart Charities, Inc. is committed to finding lifelong, loving homes for all pets by supporting programs and thought leadership that bring people and pets together. Through its in-store adoption program in all PetSmart® stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, PetSmart Charities helps to find forever homes and families for more than 500,000 shelter pets each year. PetSmart Charities also provides grant funding to nonprofits aligned with its mission. Each year, millions of generous PetSmart shoppers help pets in need by donating to PetSmart Charities using the PIN pads at checkout registers inside PetSmart stores. In turn, PetSmart Charities efficiently uses more than 90 cents of every dollar donated to fulfill its role as the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, granting more than $390 million since its inception in 1994. Independent from PetSmart Inc., PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization that has received the Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator, a third-party organization that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, for the past 16 years in a row – placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization. To learn more visit www.petsmartcharities.org.
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