We are delighted to let you know that Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland has been awarded €70,000 from the RTE Toy Show Appeal grants for 2022 by the Community Foundation for Ireland.
In 2021, the generous support of the Late Late Toy Show viewers raised over €6.6 million for children across the island of Ireland. This year those donations will help over 1.1 million children & family members in so many different ways.
This grant will fund our Family Support Programme and help to change children’s lives for good across Ireland.
The Family Support Programme will be a 12 month project resulting in the placement of 25 dogs with 25 families across Ireland, thereby increasing the wellbeing and quality of life for children with autism and their families.
More often than not, the children who use our service are non-verbal or do not have the communication skills to tell us what they need. The programme will allow for the voice of the child and family to be heard through our peer to peer programme and impact research project. It is the parent/ dog handler who becomes their voice. The family support programme will allow them to be heard and help inform the strategic development of our programmes.
Carla Ankiah, Chief Strategy & Impact Officer with AADI says:
“We are thrilled to announce this funding award and wish to sincerely thank all of the generous donors to the Late Late Toy Show Appeal 2021 and the Community Foundation for Ireland for backing us to progress a project that we in #TeamAADI are really excited about, and one which will be of huge benefit to the families we support”.
