Copyright

TheraPet, Inc.
P.O. Box 787
Clark, NJ 07066
(732)602-1112

Officers on the Executive Committee of TheraPet, Inc.^sm

President: Christine E. Rose
Vice-President, Institutions: Alice Crans
Vice-President: Donna Ballota
Treasurer: Fred Ezell
Secretary: Jeanne Scalora
Past President & Co-founder: Elaine Shoe
Co-founder: Ellen Tiller Mulligan

President
Christine Rose of Edison, NJ, joined TheraPet in 1989 with her Samoyed Mischa.  Having met one of the founders of Therapy Dogs International by chance, Chris decided this would be a good way to get involved in a volunteer activity that would allow her to spend time with her dog as well.  After screening and training, this team began its service at the NJ Soldiers’ Home in Edison and then moved over to the Brain Trauma Unit of JFK on Oak Tree Road, Edison.  For over 12 years, Chris and Mischa visited there nearly every other Saturday morning with the residents who had suffered a closed head injury.  Together, they worked on speech, cognitive, physical and occupational therapy, as well as recognition and focus.  When Mischa retired, Chris continued to visit with her other Samoyed, Tanya, until her death. 

As life circumstances changed, including a remarriage and her own health, Chris backed off from active participation in TheraPet visitation until recently.  Although currently not physically able to visit in a hospital, Chris has begun to take another Samoyed, Willy, to libraries where children can read to the dog.

Nearly from the beginning of her membership in TheraPet, Chris served as Vice President Publicity and played a part in most of the press, TV, radio, and public appearances of TheraPet during that tenure.  In addition, she was newsletter editor for over 10 years, a screening interviewer, and served on various committees.

Chris has owned Samoyeds for over 35 years and all but the first dog have been rescues.  She is Club Secretary and Treasurer of the Delaware Valley Samoyed Club, an evaluator for Delaware Valley Samoyed Rescue, and a member of the Samoyed Club of America.

A graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts with a B.A. in History of Art and Rutgers Graduate School of Management with an M.B.A in Marketing Communications, Chris has over 30 years of experience in administration and marketing in financial services and the corporate world.  She currently has her own business as a virtual assistant at www.officesupportonline.com and is active in several other volunteer organizations.

Vice-President, Institutions
Alice Crans of Lebanon Township, NJ, joined TheraPet in 1994 with her golden retriever, Topaz.  Her interest in animal assisted therapy actually started when she was an undergraduate psychology major at Douglass College while investigating the concept of music therapy as an alternative to other forms of stress reduction.  Years later, after retiring from her position as Director of the Excellence Initiative at the College of St. Elizabeth, she invested her energy into raising and training her new retriever puppy in every discipline imaginable.  And, the golden excelled at both field work, and therapy.  Topaz was inducted into the Hall of Fame as the Therapy Animal of the Year by the NJ Medical Veterinary Association. 

Alice has raised and trained collies, corgis, crows and a horse, and has survived cockatiels, fish, iguanas, chickens – and an African green monkey.  She served as the Chair of the Garden State Golden Retriever Club’s Working Certificate Test for ten years, and is currently their Corresponding Secretary.  She is also a rifle and safety Instructor for NJ Fish and Game’s award winning Hunter Education Program.  Crans is currently President of the Lenape Tracking Club, a certified track layer, and trainer.  She is a Team Leader and Trainer for the national HOPE Crisis Response.  In addition to these responsibilities, Crans was named to be a member of the Animal Emergency Working Group (AEWG) under the auspices of the State Veterinarian’s office, and is a member of the State Animal Rescue Team.

Crans started working in the area of Crisis Response in 1996 by training to work in the area of domestic violence.  She and Topaz comprised the first team (and still only team) in the state to work on the county Crisis Intervention Team.  She is also on the county SANE/SART (Rape crisis response) team.  After the World Trade disaster, Crans trained with the Red Cross as a member of the Hunterdon County Disaster Action Team, and she became a Red Cross First Aid , CPR and Pet First Aid Instructor.  Both Topaz and Crans’ TheraCat, Kiki, assisted the families of the victims on Pier 94 in NYC.

Crans, along with Peg Forte, started the Pets in Education (P.I.E.) program, whereby animal / handler teams are bought into schools and libraries to assist with reading programs, one on one counseling, or provide programs about animals and their vocations which benefit mankind.  Crans continues to provide animal assisted therapy for the children of victims of Domestic Abuse in several counties, and with her third TheraCat, Kiki, remains a regular visitor to Runnells Hospital.  Kiki was the first (and thus far, only) cat to serve with the Red Cross as a “Comfort Cat” having served on several disaster drills in Newark. 

Vice President, Membership
Donna G.  Ballotta of Woodridge, NJ, joined TheraPet in June 1989, when her Sunday School Class was asked if anyone had a pet and would like to visit the NJ Veterans’ Home in Menlo Park, NJ.   She has served as Screening Chair, Secretary, and Building Coordinator of TheraPet, prior to her election as Vice President, Membership.

Donna visits with a tortoise cat named Marbles who is 15 years old and a Doberman, Samantha who is 9 years old.  Her latest addition is a cat Cuddles, a domestic shorthair who is 2 years old.  Her first TheraPet’s were a shepherd mix named Snowball, a golden retriever, Ginger, and a tortoise cat, Burbank.  In addition, she has participated in many speaking engagements on pet therapy for TheraPet and other events.  In 1991 Donna and Snowball received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the NJ Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly Snowball was the first dog to receive this award.  She was nominated by the recreation department of the NJ Veteran’s Home.

Donna and Marbles were one of many comfort teams to serve on PIER 94 after 9-11.

Donna hopes to see animal-assisted therapy in all nursing homes, children’s hospitals, and general hospitals around the state.  She would like everyone to know the experience of unconditional love that an animal provides.