Mickey's Kids Sponsors Canine Companion for Bergen Boy

Another youngster has become a Mickey's Kid.

Hasbrouck Heights' Tom and Michele Meli, the founders of the Mickey's Kids Foundation, have raised enough funds to sponsor another  Canine Assistants dog for a youngster in need.

This year's recipient is Gabriel Sims of Elmwood Park, a youngster who suffers from a seizure disorder.

Monday afternoon the Melis brought the Sims family and members of the Mickey's Kids family to the Oradell Animal Hospital in Paramus for a celebration.

Mickey's Kids holds an annual gala event each spring with the goal of raising funds in order to sponsor a dog for a child on the waiting list with Canine Assistants, an organization which breeds and trains these special dogs.

Canine Assistants will work with organizations like Mickey's Kids to try to match them with someone in the area and the Sims were next on the list for a dog, explained Meli. Over the past two years Mickey's Kids raised enough funds to sponsor a dog for a Westfield boy and another from Union.

Gabriel, 11, will now travel with is parents down to Canine Assistants headquarters in Georgia this August where he will meet and train with his service dog. Gabriel's dog will not only serve as a service dog but as a seizure response dog too as these special dogs are said to be able to detect the oncoming of a seizure.

The youngster's mom, Lola Sims, says they have been waiting on the Canine Assistants list for a dog for at least 5 or 6 years. The youngster has both a seizure and genetic disorder, says his mother.

Meli credited all the many sponsors who help out each other being part of the gala including the students of the Academy of Our Lady who put on dance performances each year to TD Bank and Oradell Animal Hospital, which provides lifetime care for the service dogs Mickey's Kids sponsors.

It costs roughly $25,000 to raise and train a Canine Assistants dog. Each year Mickey's Kids strives to sponsor 1 or 2 dogs for children on the waiting list.