Visiting Pet Teams hosts community membership drive
Gulfport, Miss. (WXXV)- Barksdale Pavilion in Gulfport lived up to its name on Saturday as Visiting Pet Teams of South Mississippi hosted a membership drive.
The festival helped raised awareness on the role therapy animals play in visits to not only local medical facilities, but also colleges, libraries and other businesses.
Those who went out to the informational event also enjoyed chatting with local vendors, artists and many food trucks.
The festival is a first of its kind, with volunteers saying there are other ways people can sign their pets up if they missed out this weekend.
“Every second Saturday of the month, we have our new member’s meeting before our monthly meeting. That’s at 9:30. We’re going to start in April with our first meeting at St. Peter’s By The Sea. We have a website and a Facebook page you are welcome to go to to find out all the information about what’s going on with our Visiting Pet Teams pups,” said Donna Strickland, development coordinator for Visiting Pet Teams. “The purpose of this event is because we have so many request for visits we are not able to fulfill. We have to turn those down because there are actually not enough teams to make those visits. We desperately need more people who are interested in doing this work. It is a volunteer job, but it is one of the most fulfilling jobs I think I’ve ever had.”
Dogs aren’t the only animals able to become therapy animals.
Visiting Pet Teams members sharing there are a wide range of accepted species for the program.
“We accept other breeds such as cats, rabbits, miniature donkeys and horses. Miniature pigs. These can all be registered as therapy animals,” said Lu Charboneau with Pet Partners. “The human/animal connection is strong and is just something really awesome to see.”
