Jenni Williams was moving around with her husband, who was serving in the British Army, and wasn’t able to work when they came to the U.S. on assignment. She wanted to do volunteer work instead, and landed on fostering. It turned out to be one of the most important decisions she ever made. When she later had her daughter, Eve, who has a very rare chromosome condition and epilepsy, Jenni was able to understand how Eve showed love in a nontraditional and nonverbal manner thanks to her canine soulmate, Jess, and the other dogs she had fostered.

Jake Windell is an LA county firefighter who has a therapy dog, named Echo, who he brought into his fire station to help make a difference in the ongoing mental health crisis of the military, police, and firemen. Through the Peer Support Team that Jake is involved with, they are trying to make actionable changes to address mental health issues. One of the successful efforts so far has been with Echo, where having a dog around provides comfort to the firefighters and allows them to feel more comfortable to talk about how they may be handling job related stress.

Hope Dawson is a mother of two kids and a wonderful dog, Coco, who all come together to be a family. After going through a domestic violence situation, Hope was able to go to the People and Animals Living Safely (PALS) program in New York City at the Urban Resource Institute (URI), where they were able to stay together. Coco helped Hope, and the kids, during this unsettling time and gave them much-needed support to get through it.

This is a special episode of Dog Save The People with two guests from the same organization. First up is Nathaniel Fields, the CEO of the Urban Resource Institute (URI). It’s a nonprofit organization that has done crucial work in the New York City community for 40 years now – including the development in the past decade of People and Animals Living Safely (PALS) program under URI. The creation of PALS in 2013 made it the first pet-friendly domestic violence shelter in NYC. Second up in the episode is Danielle Emery, the Director of PALS. Today, it serves as an important and safe place for dog-owners suffering from domestic violence to be able to escape to and stay together with their dogs, who play a crucial and important role as part of their family in the healing process.

FREEDOM RIDE - Kimberly Elliott is the Founder of the Be Like Josh Foundation. She is a proud dog mother to Josh, a dog with cerebellar hypoplasia. While initially being nervous about being able to take care of a dog with a disability and what that might be like, Josh has completely transformed her world for the better. Her aim with his organization is to enlighten others about his condition and using that as a tool for a general acceptance of our fellow beings.