Comfort Dog Ministry Update

June 2025 was a great month! Besides our normal visits, we attended a few special events: Micah went to Southern California for a vigil for fallen Baldwin Park Police Officer, Samuel Riveros. Micah accompanied James Casner (Yuba City’s Top Dog and former Law Enforcement Officer), for the trip. While they were in the area, Micah, along with Comfort Dogs Rahab (St. Andrews, Stockton), Lois (First Good Shepherd, Las Vegas), and Salome (Faith Community, Las Vegas), stopped at the LA County Coroner’s Office (the office that processes these types of deaths).

Micah, Jeanne Bingaman and Marilyn Hunter will participate in the Pacific Southwest District Conference in La Quinta, CA (6/24 – 6/27). Micah, Sue Mason, Connie Sweet and Debbie Volker will attend the Summer Bash xHope on 6/29 at the Wackford Community Center in Elk Grove.

For the month of June, we made 79 visits in addition to the special events. Most of those visits were about an hour each, and we always send two people, so the team put in about 160 volunteer hours, not counting the volunteer hours the caregivers put in to provide a good and safe home for Micah. Additionally, there were three team members with birthdays that we celebrated in June: Connie Sweet, Pastor Jay and Jeanne Bingaman!

Some upcoming special events for July are: the Wine Social on 7/11, and the LCC bi-annual Comfort Dog Conference in Northbrook, IL (7/15 – 7/19), (Micha may not be in church on 7/20 as we like to give him a day or two of rest after that kind of trip.) He will be joined by 11 team members attending the conference and training sessions. On 7/23, Micah will be in Sutter County to help a minor child testify in court.

FYI - We have submitted an interest form for a new dog through LCC. We continue to look for more people who would love to join our Comfort Dog Ministry, especially for our second dog. We will request approval from Council at its July 1 meeting. If approved, our team will start looking at fund raising events for our second dog. If you have questions about a second dog or our ministry, please contact Jeanne Bingaman (916-479-2064) or Marilyn Hunter (916-833-5593).

Please keep our team and ministry in your prayers as we go out daily in our community to connect with people!