Fundraising for Assistance Dogs New Zealand (ADNZ)

We are fundraising for Assistance Dogs New Zealand (ADNZ), a New Zealand charity that relies on community and corporate donations in order to provide service dogs to those who have some form of disability.

We want to do everything possible to raise awareness and funds for ADNZ for 3 simple reasons:

1. ADNZ do not get any Government funding;

2. It costs around $48,000 to raise and train an assistance dog; and

3. The current wait list to receive a suitable assistance dog is now around 5 years.

ADNZ is a special charity for us. Our daughter Sienna was diagnosed with a rare chromosome deletion at around 9 months of age which has impacted her life and required her to undergo numerous major surgeries. We put Sienna’s name down with ADNZ when she was 3 years old. 2 years later we had our first visit with some of the ADNZ dogs and she walked 3x longer than she had ever walked before, with a dog in training she had never met before.

Sienna is now 7 1/2 years old and we are pleased to be able to welcome assistance dog Rocco into our family in around a months time. Rocco will go to school with Sienna and will be with her 24/7. Rocco will provide Sienna with more independence, assist with her personal safety, be able to alert us if Sienna has a seizure, provide a calming influence to Sienna in overwhelming environments, minimise adverse behaviours and aid in Sienna’s focus and concentration for learning and development.

Currently there are many in-need families that are missing out on life-transforming support for those with disabilities due to the large wait list. ADNZ need more support so that they can pay for more specialised trainers, who can help train more assistance dogs to meet the increasing demand in New Zealand.

So, please help us with our dream of raising funds for ADNZ so that the wait list can be reduced and more people in New Zealand living with a disability can thrive through access to an assistance dog. Please note any donation that you give will be tax deductible and a receipt will be issued to you. Thanks!