Name: Eve Waring
We thought this month we would focus on our lovely charity, Canine Concern, which is now in its 35th year. Canine Concern was formed in 1988 by Eve Waring, who had seen how important dog visits were to the elderly and lonely. Eve believed in reaching out to people through their dogs. She wanted to make the group friendly and supportive of each other as well as to all the people that we visited.
Eve initially started in Somerset with just 12 other people and their dogs. The group went on to grow across England and Wales, and established local coordinators to support new members on their visits as well as friendship for the established members. We all need a friendly ear to tell our many success stories to as well as the few challenging moments. There are many stories of the successes and experiences of our members. Some sad, some happy, but all emotional and good in their own ways.
Canine Concern continued as a successful charity, with Eve at the helm for many years. However, she eventually became poorly but didn’t want to give up the charity that meant so much to her and many others. So in September 2016 one of the area coordinators, Barbara Gasson, and the present CEO, Valerie Fillery, were asked to pick up the baton to continue the good work with Eve’s blessing and support. Unfortunately, on 4th April 2017, Eve passed away leaving behind a truly amazing charity as her legacy.
Canine Concern continued to flourish and in February 2018 became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The charity continued to evolve, and in 2019, Barbara formed our advisory panel, with Chris Lovegrove becoming the Chair and Treasurer. We have some supportive trustees who also believe in our work and will advise on any aspect in their experience and knowledge. Brian also joined the team as the commercial manager, helping Valerie with running the charity.
We are a charity whose policy and belief is and always will be the organisation that cares for people as well as dogs. We show our appreciation to our members in so many ways: awards, certificates, letters of thanks and even recognition when our members leave, either through retiring, ill health or sadly the death of our dogs. We support members with individual needs; some are in wheelchairs, some are coping with emotional issues such as PTSD and anxiety, but all are supported by our charity like a strong caring family. However, this never impacts negatively on the places we visit, as in fact it often helps as our members are more empathetic. Our joining fees for our volunteers are kept low, in order that people from all walks of life and on any income can join us. We believe in being inclusive to our members and even our dogs, some of whom are coping with disabilities.
We are currently visiting care homes, hospitals, hospices, universities, county courts, prisons, police stations and ambulance depots. We are also doing lots of work with children, such as going to schools and libraries so that children can read to the dogs, or even just spending time stroking, cuddling and talking to the dogs, which has been shown to help with anxiety and behavioural problems. We also visit Brownies, Guides, Cubs and Scouts to talk about dog care. Eve believed that if we educate children in how to behave with and care for our dogs there will be less dog aggression towards children leading to rehoming or even death of the dog. We are also visiting several businesses on a one off, monthly, or yearly basis for their staff wellness days. Companies are realising that happy, relaxed staff produce better work and have less time off sick. In addition, we are working with special needs’ groups for the sensory aspect as well as several university and national health studies for help with dog phobia.
We do all of this as a free service, however, we do ask that if anyone wants to give a donation or even leave a legacy to show their thanks or help towards the volunteers’ expenses, we would gratefully receive it. It is these donations which keep us going so we can continue our work.
Our visits break down so many barriers in life, giving ease and enjoyment to all. Our founder, Eve, always said we reach out to people through our dogs.
Long may we continue Eve’s dream.