Via WENY.com:
CHEMUNG COUNTY (WENY) – After working in the community for nearly 20 years, a non-profit dog rehabilitation program has announced it’s closing down. Since 1999, 936 dogs have been single handedly welcomed into the founder of the Kramer Foundation, Juli Lathrop’s home. However, Juli says without proper housing for the dogs, she no longer can keep the program going. As of two months ago, Julie is no longer taking in new dogs and over the next year will be phasing out the foundation as current dogs get placed in new homes.
Mike and Melissa Dean say they met Juli at a therapy dog visit about five years ago. They then became foster parents, but call themselves failed foster parents. Because they simply couldn’t let Lisa or Emmit, there two mutts go. The two pups now work as therapy dogs in local elementary schools. “It relaxes children who are nervous about reading. They will relax petting a dog and reading to a dog,” explains Melissa. “We had one autistic boy who screamed in the corner for 15 minutes first day they were there. By the end of the year, he’d pet the dogs,” says Mike.
The Kramer Foundation takes dogs from around the country on the verge of being euthanized, rehabilitates and trains them to be contributing members of society. Everything from working as law enforcement, search and rescue, bomb and narcotics detection to therapy dogs for all ages and participate in the “Reading PAWtners” programs within area schools.
All of the dogs that have gone through the program filled every nook and cranny of Juli’s house. She explains she usually has between 35 and 50 dogs in her house at one time. For the past few years she’s been fundraising to build a facility for the dogs, but has come up around a hundred thousand dollars short. “It seems like coming into the fall there’s always that little glimmer of hope, so I do another winter with them and then everything falls through in the spring,” explains Lathrop.
Since not being able to raise the fund necessary for the new facility, Juli is no longer taking in new dogs and closing the foundation. For someone who’s seen the impact first hand, Dan Drake, a Kramer Foundation Foster Parent, wants to do everything he can to keep it going. “I guess, my thing is, is the kids and the parents of the kids and the schools that have seen the changes. There is no way to measure that and if this foundation closes, the impact on this community… it just can’t happen,” explains Drake.
Despite phasing out the foundation Juli and her supporters aren’t giving up hope. In the upcoming weeks, multiple fundraisers will go towards building the new facility for the dogs. On Saturday, September 10 there will be a Spaghetti Dinner from 3-7p.m. at the Big Flats American Legion. On the same day there will also be a motorcycle ride through the countryside to benefit the Kramer Foundation and Abby’s Paws for a Cause called the “Ruff Ride.”