Kathy Burgess of

has donated a pup to North Star Foundation

Patty Dobbs Gross is Founder and Executive Director of North Star Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to place assistance dogs with children who face challenges to help them to meet their social, emotional and educational goals. They have been incorporated for seven years and have made over 70 placements to date with children across the country.

North Star Foundation just placed their first goldendoodle, a lovely girl named Isabella that was donated to North Star by Kathy Burgess of DoodleQuest (www.goldendoodle.net). Although they primarily place golden or labrador retrievers in their line of work, occasionally due to allergies they go outside their own breeding program.

Isabella was paired with a very sensitive and intelligent teenage boy named Nicholas, who is on the autism spectrum. Nicholas specifically requested to be partnered with a Goldendoodle, and Kathy did an extraordinary job of hand picking Isabella from her siblings due recognizing her very gregarious and gentle personality. North Star's Assistant Director, Genevieve Nilluka, did an equally extraordinary job socializing and training Isabella to work with Nicholas.

Patty Dobbs Gross personally flew Isabella down to North Carolina to join Nicholas and his mother Pamela, and testifies to her ability to maintain her composure throughout the occasionally stressful parts of flying (such as meeting and greeting the hundreds of folks who stopped to say hello). After landing she melted right into Nicholas' arms the moment they met, and she has been helping him to achieve his goals in a very simple and effective way. They are both learning the ropes of agility and they plan on competing together for many years to come.

Isabella and Nicholas continue to work collaboratively on agility training and Isabella is nearing completion of her Canine Good Citizen training.

About North Star Foundation

At North Star, the clients are children whose challenges range from autism to serious medical conditions to grief over the loss of a parent. All these children have family members who are similarly affected and whose needs are factored into their services.

Traditionally, Assistance Dog were highly trained to mitigate a specific disability (i.e., seeing eye or wheel-chair work) for predominantly adult clients, with very little preliminary or follow up contact. At North Star, they are focused on children.

North Star Foundation believes their nonprofit status is at the very heart of their endeavor. Many families with children who face special challenges are struggling both financially and emotionally to provide for them. North Star dogs are placed with families based upon a sliding scale when funds are available to mitigate their disability or ease the pain associated with a trauma or a loss.

Your money can help a child who faces a challenge to meet his or her social, emotional and educational needs. All donations are tax deductible as well as greatly appreciated.

North Star Foundation

"We help children find their way."