Free Angel on a Leash by David Frei Page A

wonderful work. They are blessed and I am blessed to be the person on the other end of the leash.”
    It was a great piece, more than six minutes long, and we closed it in the studio with Jill and I visiting live with Today Show host Meredith Vieira. Teigh and Belle were with me, looking quite alert and attentive—the world outside the studio couldn’t see Cherilyn on the floor behind the cameras, keeping their attention.
    Meredith, Jill, and I had a nice discussion about all that we had just seen. Meredith suggested that Jill’s dog, Jack, could be a good therapy dog candidate, but Jill expressed some concern about his behavior. It gave me the opportunity to close the segment with one of my favorite expressions: “You know, we worry too much about what we teach our dogs. We need to worry more about what we learn from them, and this is a good program to show just that.”

    In 2008, Ronald McDonald House New York and Angel On A Leash were honored with the prestigious Community Partnership Award, given annually by Mutual of America. We got a doggy party—hosted by the Mutual of America Foundation and its president and CEO, Thomas Gilliam—at the New York Athletic Club (NYAC), sharing the moment with our teams and families from the House. I’m not sure how often dogs get to attend functions at the NYAC, but the club has been a gracious host of Angel teams on several occasions. It is also the site for the annual Ronald McDonald House volunteer recognition dinner, and the dogs are always part of that event.
    The Mutual of America annual award recognizes “outstanding nonprofit organizations in the United States that have shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships with public, private, or social sector leaders who are working together as equal partners, not as donors and recipients, to build a cohesive community that serves as a model for collaborating with others for the greater good.”
    This was a perfect description of the relationship that we had with Ronald McDonald House. They had never allowed a dog in the House until we got there with Angel On A Leash, which Cherilyn introduced in 2006, her first year on the job there.
    Ronald McDonald House president Bill Sullivan, always saying the right thing and saying it well, told the celebrating group: “Therapy dogs bring good cheer and a sense of normalcy to the children at Ronald McDonald House.” Bill is my hero; he battles for every one of the kids who come under his care at the House.
    Mutual of America also presented five awards for special contributions to the success of the partnership. Angel On A Leash teams Richard Tegtmeier with Tucker and Gay Cropper with Mr. Gruffyd Babayan were recognized for their dedication to their volunteer work at the House; Michele Siegel of the ASPCA for her tireless efforts in training and registering Angel On A Leash teams through Delta Society; Greer Griffith for her work as Angel’s director of programs; and Chaplain Cherilyn Frei, Ronald McDonald House’s director of family support, for creating and integrating the therapy dog program at the House.
    As part of the celebration later that week, eight of our therapy dog teams rang the ceremonial closing bell for the NASDAQ stock market. Families from the House helped Lille, Belle, Lilly, Mr. Gruffyd Babayan, Fauna, Tucker, Teigh, and Angel ring the bell as Ralph Vogel, director of volunteer services for the House; Thomas Moran, CEO of Mutual of America; and I were the guys in suits representing our organizations.
    As it turned out, the ceremony also helped celebrate the biggest one-day gains for stocks in about four months, with the NASDAQ Composite up 7.1 percent and the Dow Jones up 5.8 percent for the day.
    Let’s give credit where credit is due: the Angel On A Leash teams work little miracles wherever they go!

    In our first few years of existence, before Angel On A Leash became an independent organization, we were