Last week, LCC received the following letter from one of the students at St. John Lutheran School in Lansing, Illinois, via Sue Olson, a teacher. The assignment was to write a paragraph to welcome a new puppy; look up and write the Bible verse and add detail; look up where their name came from and add a detail; and write a prayer. Below is an excerpt from one of the students’ letters to Jemimah:
 
“Your name in the Bible is Job’s first daughter and that’s really cool because your name had to live with six thousand camels. I wonder if you will ever meet a camel. If you do, be careful, because it might step on you and that would be really bad.”
 
Thank you to Ms. Olson’s class for your kind words and letters. God bless you all!

LCC recently received a generous donation from Ethan for his fundraising efforts with the following note:

“Dear Mr. Martin,

As you know for the last four months, I have been raising $ for your charity for my Mitzvah project as I became a Bar Mitzvah on 5/25/19. Please find the enclosed check totaling more than $2,000 which includes multiple fundraisers plus my and my parent’s personal contributions. Also enclosed please find a shirt that my family and I wore during the fundraising activities. Thank you for what your charity does.

Ethan”

Thank you Ethan, and your family, for your fundraising efforts and generous hearts. The LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry teams hold all those impacted at Marjory Douglas High School, as well as their families and the community, in our hearts forever! Your generosity will help us continue to serve others who are hurting or in need.

City of Aurora Mayor Irvin met Shiloh Comfort Dog recently at a swearing-in ceremony for judges in the Kane County Courts. She had been invited to attend by Judge Cruz (pictured with the mayor).

LCC received the following email on Thursday, December 13, from Concordia University Chicago:

I just wanted to take a moment to express my sincerest thank you for taking the time to come out and bring so much joy to our students, faculty, and staff at CUC. Having the Comfort Dogs come during finals week is always the highlight of the week for our campus and is loved by all. Both Tobias Comfort Dog (Lord of Glory – Grayslake, Illinois) and Emma Comfort Dog (LCC Staff) were wonderful and warmed the hearts of our students who often find it difficult to implement good self-care during this time. Thank you for all that you do and making the time to share this amazing experience with us.

Happy Holidays!

Warm regards,

Danielle Walejeski, M.A., LCPC, QPRT
Director of Counseling Services
Concordia University Chicago
River Forest, Illinois

The LCC K-9 Ministry received the following note for LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Ruthie (LCC Staff) on November 20, 2018:

Dearest Ruthie,

I have wanted to write to you and your owner for a very long time. You see, I am the woman who fell to her knees in front of you after the Parkland shootings. You came really close up to me and laid down against my legs.

I explained to you and your owner that it felt like a “soft place” to land and to catch my breath for a moment. Your owner told me to take my time. I petted you with all my love. I have held onto your card, Ruthie, ever since that day. I keep it in my Rolodex files under “R” and in my heart forever.

Thanks again – for all that you do – and for being there for so many sorrowed people.

Surrounding someone in love can take on many forms. But when that love comes from all over the United States, what does it look like? A Facebook follower from the southeast, Michelle, contacted LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Phoebe (St. Paul – Fort Worth, Texas) and asked for a card. She wanted to memorize Phoebe’s Bible verse. The card was mailed along with the Southwest Region K-9 cards and the response from Michelle was so heartwarming. How could she get the other dogs’ cards?

So began the gathering of love from the 24 states where the LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs are located. Top Dogs and social media admins responded with K-9 Comfort Dogs, Kare 9 Military Ministry, and K-9 Police Ministry cards. There were even some dogs-in-training cards added. We wish we could have seen the look on Michelle’s face when she opened the box and found ALL of the cards sent her way. She has an exciting time ahead of her as she memorizes all of the dogs’ Bible verses. We pray the verses will speak to her individually and collectively and let her know how much she is loved by all of us.

BUT the story doesn’t end there. When the comment was made on Phoebe Comfort Dogs Facebook page, a follower of Lois Comfort Dog (First Good Shepherd – Las Vegas, Nevada) commented she had been collecting the dogs’ cards for her granddaughter who had been injured by a dog and now was terribly afraid. She further said Lois Comfort Dog had been helping her granddaughter overcome her fear. Some teams sent duplicate cards and those were forwarded to Lois Comfort Dog’s team to share in this situation as well. More love and compassion shared from afar!