Cheers for Volunteers

Hi, they call me Rover, but that's just my stage name — my real name is Addie. I'm a German shepherd. Pictured with me are my buddies, Emily, a poodle, and RJ, a Bichon. They share my stage name.

I have a human whose name is Ginny Traeger. She and her husband Doug live with me at my place in Kalispell. Emily and RJ have a human too — her name is Eglina Schmitt, and she and her husband Ray live with them, also in Kalispell.

Life is good. Every Monday during the summer, our humans chauffeur us to the Whitefish Library and guess what? A bunch of the neatest kids you ever saw read stories to us. They pet us, show us pictures in their books and help us to pronounce words. Talk about a "dog's life" — it doesn't get any better than this.

Parents and children alike look forward to the weekly Reading with Rover program at the Whitefish Library. Joey Kositsky, librarian, describes in glowing terms how children love sharing their stories "with these wonderful, gentle and well-trained therapy dogs."

She gets rave reviews from visitors who are amazed that the library can offer such a program, and claims "we have the most literate dogs in the valley."

Ginny and Eglina share their dogs with hospitals, schools and private parties, and in addition to having fun, they get great personal satisfaction from watching youngsters develop confidence as they develop their reading and communication skills.

A co-worker said, "It is always sad to say good-bye to these amazing owners and their dogs as summer winds down, and we always look forward to spring and their return."

Ginny and Eglina, we echo those sentiments and thank you for helping to make our community such a great place to raise our children.

— Jake Heckathorn

This column is dedicated to those who give freely of their time and energy to worthwhile community projects, but whose efforts often go unnoticed. If you know such a person, please e-mail jheckathorn@centurytel.net.