For a kid with a fascination for reptiles—and just about any other critter—Joe Fortunato’s pleasure in his childhood travels to Michigan, Illinois, the
Poconos, and the Jersey shore was as much about the different animals he’d find in those environs as it was the family members who lived there.

Not that family and his Pennsylvania home don’t mean a lot to him—they brought him back from an idyllic life with an exotic animal and plant collection he’d amassed over six years in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. But the fascination never left him, and nothing has kept him from fulfilling his dream of sharing his regard for the creatures of the earth and sky with people of all ages.

Joe Fortunato, aka Jungle Joe Fortunato, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Bucks County Zoo & Conservation Society in Warminster—Bucks County’s first and only exotic animal zoo. And proud as he is of his own family—wife Tara, son Joseph, five, and daughter Cappie, three—he is bursting with unquenchable enthusiasm for the success of this venture.

“When I started my business of doing traveling live animal shows a couple of years ago, I never thought it would get this big, this fast,” Joe says, a bit of awe in his voice. Although the new 5,000-square-foot indoor zoo offers a respectable collection of birds, mammals, amphibians, arachnids, and reptiles, along with tours, private parties, and live events, he wants to expand further with more animals and more vehicles to extend his traveling projects.

Pet store to Florida idyll to Animal Junction
Joe had unusual pets from an early age, and a blue and gold macaw named Ziggy has been part of his family since the mid-eighties. He still has his Golden Books field guides and still uses what he learned from them while volunteering at the Academy of Natural Sciences and working at the World Wide Aquarium and Pet Store in Northeast Philly.

Even as a 1989 Philadelphia Police Academy graduate and city police officer, his predilection for unusual creatures was noted and tapped. “Whenever we got animal calls, especially a reptile call, I was the first one they contacted.” It was not uncommon for criminals to hide drugs in cages with venomous snakes, so all caged snakes were suspect. Joe was one of the few on the force who knew the difference between “safe” and “sorry.”

Despite enjoying his Philly police work, in 1992, Joe followed his heart and moved to Florida, where he joined the Fort Lauderdale police force. In his free time there in the balmy warmth, he built a private collection of exotic creatures and beautiful tropical plants, including orchids and palm trees from around the world. He also built his reputation among regulators, importers, and scientists, receiving certifications and respect for his knowledge and methods.
“But I became very homesick,” he explains. “Something was missing. So I came home and joined the Falls Township Police Department in 1998.” Even in his police work there, he’d run out on the occasional animal call to round-up a reptile or collect a $2,000 cockatoo from a tree.

At the same time, Joe was developing a wild-animal business that allowed him to maintain a small collection of specialized animals, cared for lovingly at his home as part of his family. Through his company, Animal Junction, Joe provided educational and entertaining programs to schools, camps, and birthday parties. This was his opportunity to introduce people—young and old—to the creatures they read about in books, saw on television nature shows, or observed at a distance through glass walls or barricades at city zoos. Kids loved it; they and the adults learned about the critters’ lifestyles, protecting wildlife habitats, the ills of poaching, and more. The knowledge he’d gained in Florida allowed him to meet the stringent certification requirements and to exceed the standards for owning exotic species here in Pennsylvania.

Aiming dream-ward with Jack Hanna
Forward to March of 2006: a spinal crush injury had led to retirement from the force; Joe was still knee-deep in exotic animals at home—and Jack Hanna was coming to town!

Hanna, Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and possibly the most widely recognized wild animal “edu-tainer” in the country, was living Joe’s dream.
“I couldn’t pass up seeing Jack Hanna!” Joe recalls. “And there he was, very accommodating and professional. A year later, his office called to ask if I’d be interested in us working together. What a proud moment!”

The two soon became very close. They still spend many weeks of the year doing animal shows and television appearances, including David Letterman and Good Morning America. When Joe realized his dream of a facility here in Bucks, Hanna sponsored the Bucks County Zoo for accreditation with the Zoological Society of America.

In March 2008, just two years after they had met, Hanna was an honored guest at the Bucks County Zoo’s grand opening. “Jack’s very inspiring, very positive and makes you feel you’re doing something good.”

Joe also travels the world with another inspiring colleague, wildlife expert Clyde Peeling, Director of Reptiland in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. He and Peeling have toured in Africa, the Galapagos, and Indonesia, and more trips are on the horizon.

Zookeeper and wildlife educator
The Bucks County Zoo & Conservation Society, located at 1540-D Campus Drive, Warminster, is staffed mostly by volunteers. Most of these volunteers are students from Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, which has respected Animal Biotechnology & Conservation and Animal Science majors. “We’re so lucky to be so close to the school,” says Joe. “And they love coming to work for us. They get something that’s hard to find anywhere else.”

Besides rigorously cleaning the facility itself, the staff and students bathe, groom, feed, and do “enrichment”—playtime—with the animals. “Birds are a great example, because they’re highly intelligent. Take a piece of fruit; put it inside a paper towel roll. Or put worms in an empty yogurt container so they have to figure out how to get to the food. Play keeps animals from getting bored. Boredom leads to stress, and that leads to disease and other problems.” There’s a lesson for all of us: play more to stay healthy.

“When I go out to do shows, I still get goose bumps from the excitement,” says Joe.

He tries to purchase animals as babies at six to eight weeks of age so they can be hand-fed in order to develop bonding with the handler. Bonding helps ensure that the handler won’t endanger the animal, himself, or the audience—an important consideration for exotic animals that go out in public for education and outreach programs.

But that doesn’t guarantee the cockatoo won’t poop on Joe’s shoulder on television or that the toad won’t pee down the front of his pants at a birthday party. In fact, exotic animals doing what comes naturally is part of the fun. Just ask any six-year-old at that birthday party.

Conservation is key
At the core of Joe’s work, however, is the message that all wild animals deserve protection of their lives and their habitats.

In the works for a Spring 2011 opening at colleges, theaters, and universities is Jungle Joe’s Wildlife Adventures, an interactive stage show that is also planned as a series of television episodes. The eco-adventures spotlight fifteen of the most popular exotic animals from the zoo’s roster of birds, mammals, amphibians, arachnids, and reptiles, each with a story to tell about climate, habitat, conservation, and the environment.

The Bucks County Zoo, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, also wants to grow. An accredited zoo, it will be able to get approvals and permits for more animals in different classes once it has available space. Plans are afoot to build a new, larger facility in Bucks.

Joe Fortunato is well named: he is fortunate, indeed, to have had two fulfilling and meaningful careers—wild animals and law enforcement. Also fortunate are the residents of and visitors to Bucks County—as well as all those who get to view his live and broadcast animal adventure shows around the country—that Jungle Joe kept his dream alive. 

For more on the Bucks County Zoo & Conservation Society
and Jungle Joe’s Wildlife Adventures: 215.394.5873
JungleJoe@BucksCountyZoo.org • www.buckscountyzoo.org
1540-D Campus Drive, Warminster, PA 18974

Story by Anne Biggs

It’s a little spot of heaven in Solebury Township that opens your spirit and offers something for everyone—environmentalists, photographers, gardeners, birders, land preservationists, kids of all ages, educators, water and soil scientists, wildlife conservationists, hikers, and naturalists of every ilk.  And even if you’re a determined city slicker, its beauty and serenity will soothe your soul and nourish your spirit if you just give it time to work its slow, gentle magnetism.

This is the home of the Bucks County Audubon Society at Honey Hollow, a private, non-profit organization that, for more than forty years, has stood for the power of nature to make a difference—sometimes the only lasting difference—in our too-rushed, too-pressured, too-burdened lives. Besides its association with bird-watching, since its inception, BCAS has been dedicated to conserving wildlife, promoting awareness of environmental problems, educating the community about the interdependence of humans and their world, and furthering the wise use of land, air, and water.

A site of great significance
The fifty-five-acre property, which sits in the midst of the Honey Hollow watershed, is central to BCAS’s mission. In fact, the organization grew out of Honey Hollow Watershed Association and was established as a National Audubon Society chapter in 1969. Many locals still simply call it “Honey Hollow” for the name of the environmental education center that has presented popular programs for more than thirty years.

Enhancing BCAS’s significance to the region is the 1969 designation of the entire 650-acre watershed as a National Historic Landmark for early conservation work local farmers and the Soil Conservation Service carried out in the 1930s. It remains the only agriculture-based NHL in the country.

“The unique property is a huge asset for the organization and all of us who live in the area,” says Mary-jo May, newly elected President of the board. “It has a variety of habitats across its meadows, woodland, pond, marsh, stream, and trails—and nearly all of it is open to the public, not just BCAS members, to walk the trails and enjoy.”

The property’s architectural centerpiece is the stone barn, a unique English-style adaptation designed in the 1930s by well-known horse farm architect R. Brognard Okie. George J. Donovan of AIA & Associates designed the 1998 renovations, creating a Visitors’ Center with an auditorium, offices, and a classroom.

BCAS benefits from additional office space at nearby Tuckamony Farm, owned by Board Member Malcolm Crooks. A founder of the organization, Crooks is a longtime Solebury resident, historian, and environmental and land preservation advocate.

Assets and challenges
The fifteen-member board includes Dorothy Downie, who has stepped in as interim Executive Director. She oversees a small staff made up of full-time environmental educator Jaime Schoenfeld, part-time environmental educator and outreach coordinator Diane Smith, and Jeannette Pursell and Maria Fell, both of whom provide administrative support.

The board, staff, and general membership share a commitment to the environment, ecology, and the great outdoors. They take their roles seriously, as stewards for the land, air, and water. And despite the drop in numbers—currently just 565 members, down from a thousand in 2004—those who remain active are steadfast in their efforts to rejuvenate the organization and continue its mission.

“In the past five years, the organization has faced financial challenges—just as economic conditions haven’t been all that favorable,” explains May. “Recently, however, we’ve brought new, energetic members onto the board, building it up with people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get involved.

“BCAS has had its light under a bushel for too long,” says May. “Our goal is to return BCAS to its role as a leader in environmental education. We’re actively pursuing strategies to get us there, from raising funds to adding programs and revitalizing the property.”

Strengths in numbers and in programs
A strong volunteer base has always been important to the organization and its programs and property. “We could not operate without our volunteers, who maintain trails and tend the plantings around the Visitors’ Center and the organic garden. They are particularly valuable during special events,” according to May.

One of those special events is the mid-July Barn Tour and Castles in the Fields patron reception, a popular fundraiser inspired by the Okie barn eleven years ago. The tour blends land preservation, adaptive reuse, architecture, and a glimpse into the Bucks County farming heritage that is the focus of a growing sustainability effort.

Another strength is the group’s school and family programming. 

“A recent grant from the Norman Raab Foundation will fund a new school program, ‘Encouraging Reading through Science,’” says Jaime Schoenfeld. “The students experience science using our many resources, then follow up their interests through reading. All of our programs are designed to engage the kids’ participation, enhance classroom work, and help meet curriculum goals.”

Schoenfeld’s department is also developing new programs to reach those who don’t normally have access to the property’s bounty. She is awaiting word of a grant to provide field trips for children on the autism disorder spectrum. Eighteen underprivileged children from Morrisville attended a week of BCAS summer camp on a Junior League of Princeton grant; local vendors provided their lunches.

The line-up of fall programs includes this year’s Haunted Trails’ “Alien Invaders” on October 15 and 16. Aimed at children under ten, it informs about invasive species. Mushroom Walks on October 23 are led by mycologist Martie Kyde, PhD. A free birding program on November 11 at 7:00pm introduces bird-watching to a new generation.

Looking ahead
“The American public is focused on sustainability now more than ever,” says May. “BCAS has a role to play in this, and we are eager to return to our former leadership position.

“Right now, we are working toward a strategic vision. As we make progress toward a bright future, we invite everyone to join and support BCAS at Honey Hollow and to volunteer in the areas that excite their passions.”

To learn more about BCAS: www.BCAS.org.

By Anne Biggs

Gail Morning is a competitive swimmer, powerlifter, tennis player, and bowler. She also has an intellectual disability. After participating in the Special Olympics for years, the young woman from Warrington discovered another group, called Athletes Without Limits, which offers sporting opportunities to individuals with intellectual disabilities. The organization provides serious and rigorous competition to the most talented athletes, allows individuals with intellectual disabilities to compete at the top of their sport, and invites them to travel around the world to meet and compete against similarly matched athletes. Yet perhaps the most complete way of describing what this organization does might be to state how it makes its athletes feel: “I feel happy,” said Morning, describing what it’s like to compete in the sports she loves. It’s that simple.

Athletes Without Limits was formed a little more than a year ago by a mom looking for competitive opportunities for her son. Tracy Lea had watched her son, Syd, win countless gold medals at the Special Olympics in cycling events. But because the Special Olympics is designed to reach the broadest spectrum of intellectually disabled athletes, some elite participants—like Syd—simply craved more competition. While searching for sporting challenges for her son, Lea discovered the International Federation for Sport for People with an Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID), an England-based organization established in 1986, which invites athletes to compete at a higher level. So Syd was off to Poland to compete, then Portugal, and then Hungary. Soon, however, the organization announced that unless the United States formed its own INAS-FID affiliate, Americans would not be permitted to participate in their events. After searching for help to form an affiliate, Lea realized there was only one solution: she had to form her own—and so, Athletes Without Limits was born.

The organization was initially formed with Syd as its only member. But when Lea, who lives in Maryland, was competing in a cycling event in Lancaster, Pa., last year, she heard about some other candidates. “I was chatting with another girl who was a swimmer, and I asked if she knew any special education kids who swim,” she explained. “And she said, ‘Yea, I know some fast ones.’” That’s how Gail Morning and Maria D’Andrea, from Bensalem, joined Athletes Without Limits. “Finding the young women in Bucks County was the cornerstone of putting a face on what we’re trying to do,” said Lea. “We are reaching into the population of Special athletes and giving them opportunities they didn’t have.”

For Maria D’Andrea, Athletes Without Limits was a great discovery. Soon after joining the organization, she was off to the Czech Republic to swim in the INAS-FID Global Games. “I like it because when I went to the Czech Republic, I saw kids that are just like me, and I could be myself,” said D’Andrea, nineteen. “I didn’t have to not be myself.” Her mother, Maryanne D’Andrea, recognizes that sports have helped her daughter enormously. “She was on the high school swim team, and that helped her confidence and self-esteem,” she said. “Swimming helps her. When she was swimming in high school, I saw a change in her. It was the one thing she was really good at.”

Gail Morning, twenty-six, has been competing in the Special Olympics since she was five years old, and she has the wall full of awards and medals to prove it; but Athletes Without Limits allows her to push herself to compete at a higher level. “She had gone as far as she could go with the Special Olympics,” explained Bill Donohoe, Morning’s stepfather. “She was winning gold every time she stepped out there. This offers a different kind of venue and more competition. She likes that.” Morning seems to love being involved. “It keeps me in shape and fit,” she said. “I love to compete.”

Athletes Without Limits currently has four member athletes, with six or seven more getting accreditation to compete, according to Lea. To qualify, athletes must have an IQ of 75 or below, significant limitations in Adaptive Behavior, and an intellectual disability that began before age eighteen. For now, the organization focuses on five sports: swimming, track and field, cycling, rowing, and table tennis. With increased funding (which Lea said comes from “angel friends”), the hope is to attract more athletes and expand to more sports.

Yet Lea’s core team of athletes has already proven the success of Athletes Without Limits. Morning and D’Andrea both had impressive debuts at the Global Games in the Czech Republic last year. Syd Lea is also a member of mainstream (non-disabled) U.S. Cycling, as well as being the second-ranked cyclist with an intellectual disability in the world. He recently rode 100 miles from Boston to Cape Cod in a mainstream cycling event and placed fortieth in a field of 500 men. “His brain doesn’t work so well, and he doesn’t talk as well as he should, but he’s really fast, and he beats people,” said his mother. “He was once riding with these athletes from West Point. They might be leaders of the free world someday, but they were like, ‘Hey, that Special Ed kid just dusted me.’ It’s an equalizer.”

Lea said she hopes that her accomplished athletes also encourage others to strive for excellence. “It’s nice to see other families who say, ‘Maybe my kid could do this,’” she said. Ideally, Lea wants to see athletes with intellectual disabilities competing in the Special Olympics, in INAS-FID events, and in mainstream competitions. “They may take longer to learn,” she said. “They may need additional support or modified instruction when learning the sport. But we want them to get on the high school swim team or on the soccer league. We want to break down the stereotypes. We want to expand the access…When athletes play together, walls come down and respect happens. It opens up people’s hearts and minds.”

Lea, who has an older son who competed in the Beijing Olympics wants her athletes to dream without limits. “We are here so that a parent of a child with an intellectual disability can get that call from inside [the] Olympic stadium one day,” she said. “When I got that call from my older son from Beijing during the Opening Ceremonies, I was hearing the roar of the stadium live. He said, ‘Mom, I’m here.’ Someday, Syd can call [me] or Maria can call her mom.”

For Maria D’Andrea, those dreams have, in many ways, already come true. “My dream was always to go to the Olympics,” she shared. “To me, Athletes Without Limits is like the Olympics, because in the Olympics, every country is there, and in the Global Games, every country is there. When I was there, it felt like I accomplished my dream of going to the Olympics.”

For more information about Athletes Without Limits, contact www.athleteswithoutlimits.org. To find out about athlete eligibility, call (202) 544-0510 or email info@athleteswithoutlimits.org.

Story by Lauren Eckstein

Phillips’ Mill Community Association might be one of the most well-known little-known arts nonprofits in the Delaware Valley. While this may seem impossible to the many people who are deeply involved in the organization, a lot of long-time residents and newcomers alike who know the name have only a hazy grasp of what PMCA—often called simply “Phillips’ Mill” —actually does.

Here is the primer that will allow the abashed uninformed to converse intelligently, maybe even elegantly, on the subject of this important artistic community and the charming historic structure it occupies on Primrose Creek, two miles above New Hope.

Yesterday
Built in 1756, as a water-powered grist mill, Phillips’ Mill served area farmers for over a century before Pennsylvania impressionist painter William Lathrop purchased the property in 1894. A dedicated teacher and mentor, Lathrop was instrumental in establishing a “community of artists” among his students, colleagues, and friends, and his home and studio at Phillips’ Mill quickly became the center of the New Hope art colony.

Local artists formed the Phillips’ Mill Community Association, a private dues-paying club, in 1929, and established an annual juried art exhibition that displayed the works of member painters and sculptors.

“Admission to the art exhibit was 25 cents,” says current PMCA board president Valerie Eastburn. According to one old Phillips’ Mill history account, “It was funded by the downstairs tea room run by the ladies of the mill.” Not until 1937 were any nonmembers invited to enter; today, it is the longest continuously running juried art show in the country, and it is open to all.

Historically, “the mill was the nucleus of the neighborhood,” shares Eastburn, a PMCA member since the ’80s, “where farmers would see their neighbors, share news, and discuss events of the day. It became a place for out-of-towners to visit, where there was comfort around the creative arts.”

Today
Continuing the forum tradition, each year, they present a topic of interest to the community at large, which could include a speaker, panelists, Q&A afterwards—all with no political agenda, “just social discourse.”

Phillips’ Mill inaugurated its annual juried photography exhibit in 1993, to give recognition, respect, and appreciation to photographers as artists and photography as an art. The 18th Annual Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibition runs June 6 through 27, from 1:00 to 5:00 on Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and from 1:00 to 9:00 on Friday and Saturday; they are closed Monday and Tuesday.

Additionally, the Phillips’ Mill Community Players stage a major production in the spring and a cabaret-style revue in the fall. This May’s show, “Derry Air,” made fun of “the trials and tribulations of modern-day air travel” and was directed by Eastburn.

“I’m part of the drama contingent,” she explains. “I was thrown onto the stage in ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,’ and now I’m a writer and director.”

She says it’s not unusual for new members to build a lot of energy around a favorite interest and have it become a regular feature. “We’re always looking for suggestions and welcome creative ideas” —and hard workers to take an idea and run with it.

The community association’s eighteen-member board of directors oversees a large group of dedicated volunteers. The organization is 100 percent volunteer run, with membership dues and fundraising activities supporting the upkeep of the old mill, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

Tomorrow
The property for which the organization is responsible is on the left, going north on River Road out of New Hope. It includes a small parking lot adjacent to the mill, the beautiful old stone mill itself, and a larger parking lot along Primrose Creek just over the single-lane bridge on River Road. Forum and stage productions are held in the large, open space on the main floor. The lower level contains a small kitchen and meeting room. The annual art and photography exhibitions occupy both levels.

PMCA also rents out the mill, which holds up to 150 people, for parties and other community or private events.

“We are stewards of this physical property, though limited by our funding,” says Eastburn, who acknowledges a “fabulously active” house and grounds committee. “Any profits from events go to preserving the mill.”

That makes the Phillips’ Mill’s annual fundraiser, kicked off last summer and held this July 17, one of the most important events of the association’s year. The Sizzlin’ Summer Supper Party is a progressive event that starts with cocktails at the mill and then splits into small groups for dinner in area residents’ homes. Everyone reconvenes at the mill for musical entertainment, a silent auction, and fanciful desserts to round out the evening. Last year’s event raised $15,000 for the Phillips’ Mill Preservation Fund.

For more information about tickets to the summer supper party and any of the PMCA events, or to learn more about the organization and how to become a member and bring your ideas and enthusiasm to this active group, visit www.PhillipsMill.org, or call 215.862.0582.

“Phillips’ Mill is not a stuffy organization,” says Eastburn. “I don’t know what it is about the community association, but it’s very rare that you will find an apathetic member. To a person, we just love the mill, and want to take care of it.”

 Story by Anne Biggs

It was a chance encounter with a learning support teacher at her son’s elementary school that led Diane Smith into the developing field of emotional therapy dogs in the classroom. More than just a literacy program, the organization she founded six years ago is now serving the emotional as well as the learning needs of dozens of Central Bucks School District students every week.

“I initially got the idea from the more traditional role of therapy dogs going into nursing homes,” says Smith, program director of Roxy Reading. When she got a Boykin Spaniel puppy with a fabulous disposition, she recalled the animals who had come into her grandmother’s nursing home to provide comfort to the residents, especially those suffering from dementia and other age-related issues.

“I decided to get Roxy certified as a therapy dog,” says Smith. “During the process, I took her into my son’s school to practice.” On her visit, Sandy Berstressor, the Learning Support teacher at Gayman Elementary in Danboro, invited Smith and Roxy into her class.

“The class had some students with limited literacy skills who were so shy, they were literally afraid to speak, let alone read.” But Roxy was patient and relaxed amid all the excited attention, and pretty soon the kids sat down with her and started to read her books from their classroom stock.

Before long, the children were looking forward to Roxy’s visits, picking out books to read to their four-legged friend the next time she came into the classroom.

“The first step to learning to read is wanting to read,” says Smith. For some of these youngsters, reading was such a chore that they couldn’t approach it with anything but dread. But “what was once a task is now a privilege. That success really affects their viewpoints about school and learning.”

Soon, other teachers became interested in getting a dog for their classrooms, and Smith looked for additional trained and certified dog-and-handler teams to participate in this new adventure. By the end of that first year, they had a name—Roxy Reading—and five teams were visiting five Gayman classrooms every week.

Six years later, Roxy Reading’s 44 volunteer pet therapy teams cover 78 classrooms in 15 Central Bucks schools. The organization recently received its state nonprofit status and has filed for federal tax-exempt approval.

While Roxy Reading continues to prioritize its role to nurture literacy, its success with children who are autistic, have multiple disabilities, or are enrolled in life skills programs has prompted it to expand its mission to bring joy and comfort to students with emotional and physical challenges.

For her inspiring leadership and hard work in providing pet therapy services to the community, Diane Smith was recently recognized by the Rotary Club of Doylestown with its 4-Way Test Award.

The ball is rolling

Word has spread of Roxy Reading’s success, spurring the growth of similar groups. Three years ago, Wendi Huttner, a Labrador Retriever breeder, and Deborah Glessner, a teacher on the verge of retirement who’d already determined she wanted to do dog therapy work, founded Nor’Wester Readers. They were drawn into the literacy effort by Roxy Reading and Diane Smith, and decided to take their program into the Council Rock School District. At the start of the 2007-2008 school year, Huttner and her black lab Balrion Weathertop Nor’wester—aka Wes—joined Kim Rinella’s reading class at Hillcrest Elementary School in Holland.

The human members of the team try to be invisible, Huttner says. In the typical weekly session, she sits on the floor with Wes in the reading area of the classroom, usually surrounded by the students as they sprawl on pillows, the carpet—and one large, soft and very patient dog.

 “These are the children who are the most challenged readers in the whole elementary school,” says Huttner, “the ones the specialists aren’t able to reach, who would rather have crawled into the woodwork than read out loud.”

And yet, that’s just what they do: they pick up a book and open its pages and begin to sound out the words of the story. Wes doesn’t laugh or tease, “he’s completely nonjudgmental. If he wags his tail during a story about a frog, then all week that reader is looking for more books on frogs, hoping to entertain Wes the next time he visits the classroom.

“It’s building confidence and fostering in a child the love of books and reading—everything they didn’t want to do before,” says Huttner. 

With its 20th volunteer team, Nor’Wester Readers now visits 23 classrooms each week in all ten of Council Rock’s elementary schools. Huttner is working this year with the Autistic Support class at Richboro Elementary, and recently took on the Lower Elementary School in the New Hope-Solebury district. Like Roxy Reading, Nor’Wester Readers is always looking for more teams; both organizations have waiting lists of teachers and classrooms, as well as requests for speaking engagements and other services the dogs and handlers can provide in the community.

Woof! Where do I sign up?

A therapy dog must be rock solid in personality and socialization, Huttner and Smith agree. While temperament is often innate, socialization—in this case, the ability to work with children and to maintain calm in extraordinary situations—can be developed by letting your dog play with crowds of kids and be around a lot of noise and activities.

“Training to heel, sit, come and stay—that’s the easy part,” says Huttner.

Therapy dogs and their handlers are certified as a team through a therapy dog organization such as the nonprofit Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs. Certification is $15, plus $15 a year to belong to the organization, which also bonds and insures your dog for his work. All handlers must also complete the background clearance process through the school for their weekly admittance into the classroom. There is no charge to the schools for these pet therapy services.

“We have a shortage of therapy dogs,” Huttner says. “They’re out there, but they don’t know we need them.”

To learn more about Roxy Reading and Nor’Wester Readers, visit www.RoxyReading.org and www.NorwesterReaders.com. Contact Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs through www.golden-dogs.org.

Behind the façade of spacious homes and sprawling lawns in affluent Bucks County lies a problem: the hidden homeless. Homelessness, poverty and hunger are real issues for many of our neighbors. Each is unique.

Beth Baker, the founder and executive director of Deserving Décor, formerly of Beth Baker Interiors, partners with the Bucks County Housing Group to provide places for people in need to call home. It is simple human dignity to have a clean, comfortable, safe shelter, food, and hope.

 A woman of action, Beth is determined to improve the world. She explains that the BCHG Supportive Housing Program provides temporary apartment housing, bridging the gap between a traditional homeless shelter and a rental property.

Beth speaks highly of the dedication and imagination of the volunteers who have raised eclecticism to a fine art. Using renewed furniture, lighting, and accessories, topped off with stylish window treatments and comfortable linens, they magically transform lackluster, cold apartments into inspired, appealing living spaces. The clients’ gratitude over a supply of books or magazines is one of the most rewarding parts of Beth’s experiences.

The volunteers’ time, talent, passion and personal donations make a difference in the lives of the families they serve. “I’ve met some amazing, caring, giving people and made some close friends,” said Beth.

Jesse Adam Raphial, who as a child who grew up in foster care, group homes, and state care facilities now helps with fundraising and hauling donations. He has built retail stores for Habitat for Humanity and helped Goodwill increase profitability. As an entrepreneur he bought smaller businesses and made them lucrative. He caught the charity bug working in a senior center and for convalescent care. Jesse monitors Freecycle.org, movement of people who recycle through gifting to each other. “I want to actually be out there touching people in a grassroots mission helping the people in our own backyards,” said Jesse. “No political views or limitations. Go to bed knowing we’ve done something.”

Helicopter camera operator Amy Manning, learned of Deserving Décor from her mom. Amy said, “I am honored that Beth allows me to be part of this venture. This is near and dear to my heart.” She contributes by refurbishing sturdy but unattractive furniture with her own money.

This is a philanthropic enterprise for Beth. “I don’t get paid. It started with a little snowball and became a giant mound of rolling snow that keeps rolling. More and more people were hearing about it and asked to volunteer.” She receives invaluable help from her partner, Andy Schawartzberg, as well as her son, Jared Baker.

A tireless individual with a helping spirit, Beth is a member of Martha Stewart’s “Dreamers into Doers,” a group of women who have turned their passion into their profession, and she will be speaking at the Living Omnimedia in New York. She is also involved in the Bucks County women’s Network Now, raising awareness and funds for local nonprofit partners.

“In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back.”  ~ Charles Schulz

Deserving Decor launched in March of 2008, comprised of interior decorators, home stagers and volunteers with the help of Beth Allen, Laura Olejniczak, and Sharon McConnell. They started out with stored decorative items and no furniture. “In my naive mind, I thought I was just going to go in and decorate,” said Beth.

They go to work when a family moves out. The first step is to clean the transitional apartment until it is spotless. Donated furniture is arranged, artwork placed, and curtains hung. They decorate according to the needs of the incoming tenants, color coordinating bedding, bathroom and kitchen accessories. Originally, they worked on one residence every couple of months; now they prepare one every couple of weeks. Beth said, “I like doing it. It’s a way for me to express myself creatively. You have to be frugal and think of ways to do things that you ordinarily wouldn’t do.  We repurpose things.”

On Saturdays, Beth totes donations not designated for use to Yesterdays Treasures, a cooperative indoor flea market in Pipersville. 
The money is used to buy what they need to make everything work.

“We can do no great things; only small things with great love.”  ~Mother Teresa

Deserving Décor is a green organization by nature, recycling furniture, linens, and decorative items.
They are currently seeking donations of lamps with shades, pictures and paintings, window treatments, bed linens, and other household items.   “A fourteen-foot box truck would be great,” said Beth. “And of course, monetary and gas cards donations are always appreciated.” Volunteers are needed, particularly men and women who can move furniture.

To volunteer or donate to Deserving Décor visit www.deservingdecor.org or call their Doylestown office at 215-550-5674.

Story by Cate Murway