My journey with Ronald McDonald House began more than 13 years ago with the adoption of a 14-pound Yorkie-Poo named Stanley Guido.

The adoption was a purely unintentional blessing and resulted from our delivery of food and bedding to the Cleveland Animal Protective League (APL).

Stanley was found wandering the streets of Cleveland and was picked up by the APL. We had no idea at the time how much our lives would change after the rescue of this amazing puppy.

Stanley quickly settled into his forever home, making friends with everyone he met. People continually told us that he was special, and that we needed to do something with him. It was suggested we train him to be a therapy dogs. After some research on the subject, we enrolled him in a therapy dog training class in Northfield.

We started our classes and quickly found that he was a great student and the “teacher’s pet”. His instructor Amy nicknamed him “Mr. Happy”, but his overly happy nature prolonged his training which lasted 22 weeks. Graduation day finally came, and Stanley passed his certification test.

We were thrilled (and relieved) with his accomplishment and immediately began visiting a local nursing home. He brought smiles and affection to many of the residents, and it was clear that he was excelling at his new job. Mom and dad were also enjoying our new ministry.

During our many weeks of training Stanley befriended Frankie, a 220 lb. giant English Mastiff. He was little better at listening training and passed his certification test weeks before Stanley.

I reached out to his mother and mentioned that Stanley finally passed his test, and it was during that conversation that she told me that Frankie passed away during an operation on his back. We were devastated to hear the news. During our conversation Frankie’s mom mentioned that they had just been approved to begin therapy visits at Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland.
While our focus for our therapy visits were on nursing homes, hospitals and assisted living, my conversation with Frankie’s mom put Ronald McDonald House squarely on our radar.

As they say, the rest is history. After our initial interview and approval, we began our visits at the Cleveland house. Three years later we adopted Nosy Rosey who was rescued from a kill shelter in Indiana. We knew immediately we were going to train and certify her to join Stanley in his visits. In 2019, we rescued Giuseppe Luca from South Carolina, and he too was trained and certified.

Our therapy dog visits quickly became our mission, and our involvement with Ronald McDonald House our new focus. Children (and their families) travel from all over the world to visit world-class respected hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. The staff and volunteers at RMH provide a safe and secure environment, food, and transportation which allow these families to focus on the medical care of their children. I can’t think of a better way to provide a little bit of happiness than to visit the house with one of three amazing therapy dogs.

To learn more about Ronald McDonald House of Northeast Ohio, please visit www.rmhcneo.org

My charity walk donates 100% of the registration fees to this amazing organization.