Grab your leash, your walking shoes and your best friend and head out for a walk this Saturday. Sept. 24 is the 5th annual World’s Largest Pet Walk. This walk helps raise money for Pet Partners.
Pet Partners is a nonprofit that registers therapy animals for animal-assisted interventions. The goal of the walk is to help Pet Partners raise $100,000.
The money raised will help them increase their community impact through therapy animal visits.
In Southwest Virginia, our local organization is called TheraPets of the Roanoke Valley. Some of the places they volunteer at locally include Carilion, Lewis Gale, Salem Health and Rehab, Radford University and Snider Nursing Home.
One of the dogs in the program is a sweet golden retriever named Suzy.
Her owner, Pam Murray says, “She is very affectionate. When we go into a place, like a hospital waiting room, she can kind of sense who needs a little cuddling and kind of zero in on that person. So, she is a wonderful therapy dog.”
Suzy and the rest of her friends are walking on the greenway Saturday in Wasena at 11 a.m. They will start by the Green Goat and walk about a mile.
Anyone is welcome to join in and be a part of the largest pet walk across the nation.