USA, MA: Needham volunteers find joy with greyhounds

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Needham volunteers find joy with greyhounds

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>From left: Marty Headd, Naomi Willinsky, Patty Cunningham, Beth Garlick and
case manager Jason Stockwell from Charles River Center, an organization that
helps developmentally disabled adults find work/volunteer opportunities,
help out at greyhound adoption shelter Greyhound Friends in Hopkinton on
Tuesday March 20, 2012.

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By Emily Cataneo

Wicked Local Needham <http://www.wickedlocal.com/needham>

Posted Mar 23, 2012 @ 09:00 AM



Patty Cunningham gently holds a hound dog by its collar as she unhooks its
silver water bucket. It's an unseasonably warm March morning in Hopkinton,
and Cunningham and her fellow volunteers are changing water dishes in a row
of caged beagles and greyhounds before taking one, a sleek black female
named Big Girl, outside for a morning walk.

Cunningham hands the bucket to Naomi Willinsky, another volunteer, who trots
to the sink to fill it.

When asked why she likes volunteering at the center, Willinsky says shyly,
"[Dogs] are sweet, and they make you feel better."

Willinsky and Cunningham are volunteers from Charles River Center
http://www.charlesrivercenter.org , an organization that helps
developmentally disabled adults find work and volunteer opportunities. Every
Tuesday morning, a group of five or six volunteers from the Needham center
visits Greyhound Friends, Inc., a Hopkinton based organization that saves
racetrack greyhounds and places them in homes. A group of Natick volunteers
visits on Thursdays.

For the volunteers, the sessions foster a give-and-take relationship: while
the volunteers help the dogs, the dogs also help the volunteers in a form of
pet therapy.

"Some of these guys love dogs in general, so they love coming to places like
this," said case manager Jason Stockwell, who accompanied Cunningham and
Willinsky's group on Tuesday, March 20.

And some of the Charles River Center volunteers simply love any kind of
community service. The greyhound visits are one of several volunteer sites
that partner with the center.

"It's good to help out," said Cunningham, who works at Olin College three
days a week.

Louise Coleman, director of Greyhound Friends, said volunteers usually wash
dishes, change the dogs' water, brush the dogs and take them for walks.

"A lot of what people do here is basic housekeeping for hounds," she said.
"The routine here is the same every day, and I think for people who need
structure, this works out really well. The dogs like structure. They like
routine."

Coleman started Greyhound Friends in 1983. Every year, the organization
places between 300 and 350 greyhounds. At any given time, 30 greyhounds are
housed at the organization.

Many of the greyhounds come from Florida, said Coleman, since dog racing has
died out in New England.

"Some are in really good shape, some are in medium shape, some are in lousy
shape," said Coleman, adding that as with any working animal, different
owners will treat pets differently.

Coleman said Charles River Center is the only group scheduled to visit the
center every week, but individuals and groups often volunteer with Greyhound
Friends on a one-off basis.

"We try to do as much with the community as we can, and this is one of
them," said Coleman.