Just For You!
Summary of this page's current items:
Join us at Dogtoberfest
Report Your Hours
Pay Your Membership Dues
Upcoming Team Assessment
Dog Language Class Dates
ITA Crisis Response Team
ITA Bonfire Store
Giving Fur-iends
Feature Your Therapy Animal
Report Your Hours
We ran some numbers and learned that only 23% of our volunteers report their hours each month! Reporting your hours is extremely important for ITA for a number of reasons:
We have wonderful supporters: foundations, grants and individuals who enjoy hearing how their funds are furthering our mission, how many hours are given to our communities and how many lives have been impacted by our services. Without their support, our organization could not continue—it’s that simple.
It helps us know who is visiting where. When we get special requests for visits to a specific location we will know who to call.
It is a requirement that you agreed to when you signed your Volunteer Job Description. You sign this job description at orientation, and have a copy in your own manual (page 225 approximately).
Dogtoberfest 2023
ITA's 30th Anniversary
It's time for the annual ITA gala and 30 year celebration, Dogtoberfest 2023!
Thursday, September 14, 2023.
Location: This is the Place in Salt Lake City
Our first preference is that you consider attending the event as a guest. In this setting you can sit back, relax and enjoy the fun!
If you'd rather help at the event we have a list of the various jobs for the evening. If you would like to get involved and help with any of these things please email Karen Burns at karen@therapyanimals.org.
Ways our ITA volunteers can help:
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Come to the party as a paying guest, and bring lots of your friends!
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Donate a gift card worth $20 or more to a universally desirable location or entity. We use these in our legendary surprise "Doggy Bags."
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Volunteer on the night of the event - Benefits? Free food, a 30 year anniversary t-shirt, and beer stein or wine glass.
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Solicit for auction items. Ask of people and places that you patronize regularly and you'll be delighted how many will say YES.
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Be a Program Therapy Team. We are looking for 30 therapy teams that will come to the party dressed in their best ITA uniform. This shift runs from 7:45 to 9:00 pm. The teams will be part of the program and will enter the dining area at a particular time and stand up front while the auctioneer asks for sponsors for our teams. Following this portion and once the live auction is concluded our teams will mingle with guests. Karen will be coordinating our program teams. Please send her an email if you are available to help!
Pay Your Membership Dues Online
Please check the back side of your badge to see when your membership dues expire.
We hope that you and your partner(s) have been enjoying this volunteer experience together and that you’re looking forward to continuing visits long into the future. The difference you make in the community is monumental and does not go unnoticed! Remember, paying your membership dues enables you to continue your active status as an ITA team and maintains your liability insurance coverage.
If you have any questions, concerns, or stories to share please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are here to support you! Thank you for all you do!
Upcoming Team Assessments
Sunday, November 12th
Please check your badge. If you and your therapy partner are due to re-test, please sign up for an assessment!
To sign up, contact Karen Burns:
Karen@TherapyAnimals.org OR (801) 272-3439
Location: ITA Office
4050 S. 2700 E. Salt Lake City, UT
Continuing Education Class:
Understanding Dog Language
By Katherine Cookson
Upcoming Classes:
Saturday, August 26 at 9 am – Ogden - Part 1
Saturday, September 9 at 9 am – Ogden - Part 2
Thursday, October 19 at 6 pm - Part 1
Thursday, November 2 at 6 pm - Part 2
There are two parts to this class that are 2 weeks apart from each other. Part II is optional and optional class designed to offer time for individualized follow up from Part I.
All teams are required to take this class within their first year of volunteering. If you have already taken it, you do not need to sign up again, but you are welcome to. If you have never taken this class, please sign up, it is a wonderfully educational experience. The class is free to our ITA members and $10 for additional guests you might like to bring. Please note that Part II is an optional class, designed to offer time for individualized follow-up from Part I. You do not have to attend Part II but you are invited to.
RSVP:
(801) 272-3439 or email Melissa@TherapyAnimals.org
Class description:
Dogs communicate volumes with their bodies. Learning to “read” what our dogs are saying requires that we observe the subtleties of expression, posture and movement, as well as muscle tension, orientation and use of space. It also requires we interpret our observations accurately.
This Dog Language class is based on the science of Ethology and Animal Behavior, Proxemics and Kinesics, and lays a foundation for understanding dog language. We focus on the signals likely to be seen in therapy scenarios, discussing techniques for maintaining communication throughout a visit that enable us to respond appropriately to our partners’ experiences.
ITA Crisis Response Team
Sign up to be a part of the team!
ITA is putting together a Crisis Response Team; a group of volunteers who are willing to participate in immediate crisis situations. If you would like to join, you will be a part of a group where ITA will be able to send out any requests we receive for those who are directly affected from a crisis or the first responders who were on site. This will be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
This is an effort from ITA to be able to provide powerful relief and support for those who experienced shock, loss, and/or grief. You do not have to be available and ready for all crisis events to be a part of this group, but you do need to be willing to respond when you are able to!
Once a team is formed we will provide additional training in regards to working with individuals going through traumatic events. (There is no charge for the training.) We will also invite you to belong to an App that will better help us get the word out quickly when teams are needed.
Please email Karen@TherapyAnimals.org for questions or to become a part of the team! We are hoping for teams in every local chapter (Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Utah County)!
Bonfire Store:
Fun Shirts by ITA!
If you missed out on getting yourself any of our cute shirt designs in the past, the worry is over! All of our past Bonfire Campaigns are now available again!
Every purchase from our store on Bonfire gives ITA a percentage of the sale. This is a fun way to support ITA while also getting yourself or someone else a fun and unique shirt!
Giving Fur-iends
Call us today!
Help us give with these stuffed therapy fur-iends! Send one, five, or 24 stuffed dogs accompanied by a book to give to patients at a facility of your choice!
Give a gift of $25 and we will send 1 cuddly fur-iend and a book to a patient at a facility of your choice, or as a gift to any child you request!
Give a gift of $100 and we will send 5 sweet fur-iends and books!
Call Intermountain Therapy Animals at
(801) 272-3439 to send some cuddly Fur-iends!
Feature Your Therapy Animal!
Send us pictures!
Do you want your therapy animal featured on our social media? Send us any pictures you have, we'd love to put them on our Facebook and Instagram!
Send pictures to:
Text your pictures to: (801) 885-4917
Send them on Instagram: @Intermountain.Therapy.Animals
Or email them to: Lilly@TherapyAnimals.org