PAALS – Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services – is excited to offer you an opportunity to help serve your community while supporting Murrells Inlet’s first – Paddle for PAALS..

Premier Sponsor Be Soulfish and PAALS will be offering free sessions to help interested community members learn how to Stand Up Paddle board and lessons on how to teach a pet dog to ride with them.  Some of these sessions will be recorded and played on the Paddle for PAALS Facebook page.  Kayakers are also welcome along with dogs.  Paddle for PAALS will begin on May 1, 2022.  Registered participants will Stand-Up Paddle(SUP) and/or Kayak while tracking miles.  A free app will be available for those who want to automate their miles onto the PaddleforPAALS.org website.  On June 1st the window for tracking miles will end, but the fun has just begun.    A Paddle parade will be held at 2pm on Saturday June 1, 2024.  The Paddlers After Party will be held at the Neal’s Creekhouse from 3 – 5pm.

This year’s event will start with a parade at 2 p.m.

 

How You Can Be a Part of PADDLE FOR PAALS

  • Sponsor the event with a cash donation of from $250 to $1,000. Please call Jennifer Rogers, Founding Director, at (803) 920-0042 with questions. Sponsor donations can be made on the paadleforpaals.org website (click here).
  • Donate experiences, services or items for prizes for top paddlers and top fundraisers. We can pick up items or gift certificates at your convenience.
  • Register yourself, your friends, your employees and business associates at www.paddleforpaals.org.
  • All money raised from the Paddle for PAALS will help PAALS accomplish its mission in 2022. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Founding Director Jen Rogers at jrogers@paals.org or (803) 920-0042.

What We Do

PAALS is a South Carolina-based charity that trains service dogs for people with disabilities. Some of our dogs help people who use wheelchairs turn lights on and off, tug open doors, pick up dropped items and alert for help. Other dogs assist children with autism and military veterans and first responders who have post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). By the time an assistance dog is placed with a life partner, PAALS has invested two years of time and about $40,000 in veterinary care, supplies, training, boarding and travel costs. Service dogs are not covered by private or government insurance or disability benefits programs, so PAALS raises the funds needed.

While our pups are in training, each one influences and helps about 1,000 people a year through our animal assisted intervention programs. These community programs serve children (those with and without disabilities), veterans, first responders, and facilities that serve people with special needs. At any given time, we have about 30 dogs in training, but the list of qualified applicants needing dogs far exceeds our capacity.  We need your help to sustain our program and meet our goals.

Thank you for your supporting PAALS by participating in our 2022 Paddle for PAALS!

 

Jen Rogers, Founding Director, PAALS