Welcome to Team Paws for a Cause 2024.   For the eighth straight year, we are participating in this year's Walk and Play L.A. in support of the Dog Therapy Program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.  Dog Therapy is an entirely donor-funded program that relies on this fundraising event to raise a meaningful part of the annual operating budget.  

More children receive care from CHLA than any other hospital in the region—and often CHLA comes to the rescue for children when other hospitals run out of medical options for their care.  The Amerman Family Foundation Dog Therapy Program is CHLA's robust in-house Dog Therapy Program.   The program ensures that patients and families receive the support of registered therapy dog teams in ways that are unique and meaningful ot their needs.  

In 2023, the program supported a roster of nearly 100 therapy dogs of different breeds, sizes, ages and backgrounds, along with their dedicated human handlers.   Dog teams are educated, tested, and trained to serve in this special capacity.  The program supports inpatients, outpatients, family, employees, and the broader CHLA community through a variety of programming that ranges from a specific one-on-one treatment-goal-focused interaction to regular drop-in sessions open to all.  

On average, 900 patients each month benefited from an individualized dog therapy visit, at the bedside, during treatment, while participating in therapy, or while visiting an outpatient clinic.  Therapy dogs provided 76,000 interactions in 2023, and the demand for both broader and more specialized support continues to grow.  

Please join our efforts to raise $100,000 for dog therapy via Walk and Play.  

We hope you will join our team (Paws for a Cause) and create your own fundraising page.  You can join virtually and fundraise even if you cannot attend the event on May 18th.  

You can also make a donation right here to support our team and any of the team members on our roster.