Apr 20, 2022
April is Autism Awareness Month.
Dogs for Autism have been busy promoting the month by taking part in various activities to help raise awareness and promoting it online.
As well as our ‘A Paw in the Hand’ campaign, launched with a LIVE ‘High Five’ on Facebook on 2nd April which helped raise funds and promoted the awareness of autism, Dogs for Autism has teamed up with the new walking app trundl.
We asked one of our autistic partners to try out the app for us during trundl’s latest ‘community trundl’ with her lovely assistance dog Toby. She gave us some feedback. Here’s her story!
Last week Ellen and her Dogs for Autism dog Toby downloaded the walking app trundl.
trundl is the walking app that ‘gives as you go!’ trundl convert each stride that you take into a donation to your chosen charity, meaning that not only are you exercising but you’re giving to your favourite charity as you walk.
Eager to give it a trial run, Ellen and Toby set off into the town to see what the app was like to use for our autistic partners and their dogs.
Not long into their walk the smell of burgers wafted through the air and caught Toby’s attention! No burgers for Toby this time, but they both enjoyed and lovely cool drink in the sunshine.
Ellen said, “I like technology and thought I’d try the app on a walk through the town with Toby my assistance dog. The notifications were good and very useful. The Community link was great, knowing that so many across the UK are walking for DfA at the same time gave me a reassuring feeling. It’s easy to use, and I would encourage anyone to download it and give it as go. As my dad says in his northern accent, “He’s a good lad Toby!”.
In April a community trundl, (a collective walk for Dogs for Autism) ran for two weeks, designed to amalgamate all the trundl’s that users walked. The collective money was added to by our charity partnership with Oscar Pet Foods. For every walk taken, as part of the community trundl, Oscar’s donated 20p for every kilometre completed. Thanks to their generosity, Oscar’s donated a total of £150 to DfA. The money used will be put towards new training coats and tick & flea treatments for some of the puppies in training.
trundl is available via the app store on your mobile or you can read more on their website: Home – trundl
Look out for the next community trundl coming soon and join in! You don’t have to have a dog to start trundling (but it helps!)
Mar 10, 2022
Dogs for Autism are proud to announce that their Early Days Manager, Gemma Binstead, has successfully completed a sponsored wing walk for the charity, strapped to the wings of a bi-plane!
Gemma, an experienced dog handler and trainer for Dogs for Autism, has raised over £1000 for the charity by flying 700 feet above the ground this March, flying at speeds of up to 130mph and strapped securely to the wings of a bi-plane as it flew above Devon on a chilly Spring morning.
Gemma decided to help Dogs for Autism by fundraising for the charity’s ‘100 Hero Campaign’, in a bid to raise £1000 for the charity over the course of the year. Gemma’s fundraising has proved to be so successful that she has beaten her own target and, combined with a previous Yoga event that she held for the charity, she has raised over her initial target since the start of the year.
Gemma said, ” I am delighted to have been added to the Dogs for Autism’s ‘Hall of Fame’ for their 100 Hero campaign and am thrilled to have set myself this challenge. Like most people I am slightly nervous about heights, but this was a challenge that I thought I would set for myself. There was literally no going back! I wanted to see if I could push myself to take on a new and positive activity, raising funds that might help the lives of the autistic partners and the dogs that I work with. I am so pleased I have been able to raise a thousand pounds for Dogs for Autism”.
