By Patrick Baron
PONTIAC – A local family is looking to raise money to help the family purchase a service dog for one of their children.
Speaking with WJEZ’s Todd Wineburner, Andy Hoeniges detailed the 4Paws for Jack golf outing next month. He said the family already has one service dog that assists their daughter, who has autism, and now they’re seeking a second dog for their son, Jack, who also has autism.
“The dog is $17,000 – that’s what we need to obtain a second dog,” Hoeniges explained. “Once we raise that money there’s about a two year waiting list before we would be able to receive the dog. By the time we finish raising this money and have to wait the two years, our dog will be getting close to retirement, so we’re just trying to get ahead of the game a little bit.”
Hoeniges said the service dog is incredibly intelligent and helps keep the kids calm and relaxed when they are having a rough day.
“He’ll do behavior disruption. He can either put his head in their lap to stop a behavior or calm them down if they become agitated,” said Hoeniges. “He can walk up and take his paw kind of swat them to distract a repetitive behavior we don’t like. Both of our children have trouble sleeping, so he’ll go back and forth between the beds all night long with whoever is having problems that night.”
With such a big cost for another service dog, the Hoeniges family is asking the public for some help. They’ll be holding a golf tournament at Pontiac Elks Country Club on July 6 starting at 8 a.m. Hoeniges noted there are some spots still available.
“We care currently at 11 foursomes right now, we have room for 18. So we’re looking for a few more foursomes and we’re also looking for any corporate sponsors to help with lunch, door prizes, anything we can raffle off,” Hoeniges said. “Any donation would be incredibly helpful, any sponsorship would be incredibly helpful.”
You can sign up for the golf outing by emailing Andy at ahoeniges@hotmail.com or by going on Facebook and finding the page “4Paws for Jack Golf Tournament.”
Patrick Baron can be reached at patrick.baron@cumulus.com.
