PALS Trading Cards

The Cause

The Pet Access League Society (PALS) is a non-profit organization providing regular pet therapy visits to senior citizens, children, teenagers and adults at over 55 facilities in Calgary including hospitals, emergency and domestic violence shelters, libraries, hospices, schools and the Calgary International Airport.
Through pet therapy, PALS is helping to improve the mental, physical, social and emotional health of the over 300,000 Calgarians every year. PALS services are provided free of charge through a network of over 275 volunteers and their pets. PALS relies solely on donation and fundraising to maintain operations as we receive no government funding.
At many of the PALS visits we were asked if people could take a picture of the pet they were petting. Of course we loved this, but as you know some pets are not great at sitting pretty for their picture. We decided that if we created a Trading Cards for each pet, complete with some tidbits of information about the pets likes and dislikes, we could hand those out at the visits. Well, they were a hit – with everyone!! Not just the kids that we were anticipating. The adults were just as excited about collecting them as well.
This is now part of the PALS essentials pack that the volunteers take when they go to a visit. However, as you can imagine the number we go through is staggering. Each volunteer goes through between 300 -600 per year. Multiple that by the number of volunteers that PALS has and that equates to close to 60000 cards per year at a cost of just under $4000.
It is our hope that your support would help us keep supplying the Trading Cards to current volunteers and to those new volunteers who join PALS every Spring and Fall.

Who Will it Benefit?

Currently we have five main programs: Pet Visitation Therapy Program, StoryPALS, Puppy Rooms, PawsitivePALS and Pre-Board PALS.
The Pet Visitation Therapy Program provides visits to partnering facilities. The recipients of this program are primarily persons whose response to other forms of therapy is non-existent, or to whom pet therapy would provide an alternative to other more common forms of therapy. Clients who benefit from this program have often experienced brain injuries or strokes, forms of dementia, Autism or are in palliative care.
StoryPALS is collaboration with the Calgary Public Libraries where we bring dogs into select libraries for children who are having issues with reading and these children spend some one on one time with the dogs reading to them.
PALS puppy rooms work with the Calgary’s universities and other post-secondary institutes by providing some stress release activities during exam times. This program is extremely popular with the students and this year we are already booked into the U of C, SAIT, St Mary’s University College and Mount Royal. PALS will also attend Calgary elementary and high schools during exam times and during special events.
PawsitivePALS was designed to fill the need of youth at risk in our city who are struggling with the challenge of making healthy choices in today's ever changing environment. This program is delivered to youth primarily in the grade seven age range (12-13 year old) and through partnerships and collaboration with schools and afterschool programs.
Pre-Board Pals (PBP) is a partnership between Pet Access League Society (PALS) and The Calgary Airport Authority that started in April of 2014, which brings PALS therapy animals to the airport to enhance the YYC passenger experience.
PALS clients are 55% senior citizens, 25% adults, and 20% children and teenagers. The need for our services continues to grow, in part due to the measurable benefits of pet therapy, but largely due to the increase in an ageing population. As the population ages and continues to move from independent housing toward some type of long term care facility the residents often are forced to downsize their personal belonging and that includes the family pet. Despite statistical facts surrounding improved mental and physical health and wellbeing with exposure to pets, at the time in their life when pets become the most important the connection is removed. PALS visits on a regular basis helps to bridge that connection again.