Empowering Lives One Paw at a Time: The Inspiring Journey of NEADS with Cathy Zemaitis (Ep. 14)

How are service dogs trained to transform lives while staying loyal to their mission?

In this episode of Wealth Beyond Riches, host Abbey Henderson, CFP® sits down with Cathy Zemaitis, Chief Development and Programs Officer at NEADS, to dive into the incredible work and impact of this world-class service dog nonprofit. 

Discover how NEADS supports individuals with physical disabilities and developmental challenges through its meticulously bred and trained service dogs, while also highlighting the organization's major partnerships, ongoing projects, and advocacy efforts against fake service dogs.

Cathy discusses:

• An introduction to NEADS and its mission since 1976
• Insights into NEADS' comprehensive service dog training programs
• The current and upcoming projects, including a veterinary clinic
• Advocacy work and challenges posed by fake service dogs
• And more!

Head over to NEADS.org if you are interested in becoming a NEADS service dog raiser!

Connect with Abbey Henderson: 

• LinkedIn: Abbey Henderson
• Abbey@AbarisFinancialGroup.com 
• Website: Abaris Financial Group
• Facebook: Abaris Financial Group
• Facebook: Abbey Henderson: Trusted Financial Advisor & Coach
• Instagram: @trustedadvisor_coach
• LinkedIn: Abaris Financial Group
• X (Twitter): Abaris Financial Group

Connect with Cathy Zemaitis: 

• LinkedIn: Cathy Zemaitis
• Website: NEADS World Class Service Dogs
• https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/H1481

About Our Guest:

Cathy Zemaitis joined NEADS in 2012. As the Chief Development and Program Officer, she has the honor of working with donors, supporters, vendors and an amazing staff to secure funding for NEADS’ present and future. “I am constantly amazed and humbled by the people who make it possible for us to bring our dogs to those who truly need them. It is because of their generosity that we are able to do what we do best…raise, train and match World Class Service Dogs.”

Transcript

WBR_EP_14

ProudMouth (00:01)

Welcome to Wealth Beyond Riches with Abbey Henderson, CEO, wealth advisor, and coach at Abaris Financial Group. In this podcast, we help generous, fun, and passionate professionals overcome their biggest financial concerns while leveling up their lifestyles based on their values. We do this by exploring the five levers, which represent the diverse resources each person possesses throughout their lifetime. These levers encompass finances, health, mindset,

relationships and time, offering a holistic approach to personal development and growth. Join us on this transformative journey as Abbey and her guests draw from years of experience to guide you in achieving your life goals while staying true to your values. But that's not all. This podcast will equip you not just to build personal wealth, but also to understand how your prosperity can contribute to the betterment of the world around you. By exploring strategies for giving back and making a positive impact,

will empower you to create a life of significance and leave a lasting legacy of positive change.

Wendy (01:11)

Hello and welcome to the Wealth Beyond Riches podcast with your host Abbey Henderson, where we talk about enriching your life in every way. I'm Wendy McConnell. Hi, Abbey. I'm good. How are you? All right.

Abbey Henderson (01:22)

Hi Wendy, how are you? I am very well. Finally the sun is out, it's warm, it feels like summer.

Wendy (01:29)

It's been like the longest spring ever, hasn't it? So what do we have in store for today?

Abbey Henderson (01:31)

It really did.

I know I start every episode by saying, I'm so excited about this, but I really am always excited and particularly excited about this episode. You and I have chatted about this so many times that philanthropy and service are really important to us at Abaris. It's one of our core values, but it's also an important aspect of our authentic wealth model. And as you and our listeners have heard me say so many times, we help clients.

create authentic wealth by aligning their five levers, so their five buckets of resources, which we think are mindset, time, relationships, health, and finances. So aligning those things with their values, their vision, and their desired impact. And so service and philanthropy fit into this model so perfectly because a lot of that is about allocating your time and your, as we sometimes say, treasure or financial.

resources. And so with this in mind, we wanted to create a little series spotlighting some of the nonprofits that Abaris has supported over the years. And I thought what better way to start than with the organization that is probably closest to my heart that we have supported, I think for probably the longest run here at Abaris. And so I am thrilled to introduce...

And so I'm thrilled to introduce Cathy Zemaitis, the Chief Development and Programs Officer at NEADS. Hi, Cathy.

Cathy Zemaitis (03:15)

Hey Abbey, thanks for having me.

Abbey Henderson (03:17)

Of course. So you are the Chief Development and Programs Officer at NEADS. You're a member of the senior leadership team, setting goals and developing strategies and budgets for a world -class service dog nonprofit organization, which was established in 1976. And NEADS boasts, this is crazy.

21 consecutive charity navigator four star ratings, making it tied for the most consecutive four star ratings out of all listed charities. And that's a pretty high bar. That's not an easy thing to accomplish. Yeah, you should be, you should be. And you're responsible for continuing this amazing legacy of ongoing fiscal.

Cathy Zemaitis (04:02)

very proud of that.

Abbey Henderson (04:14)

and positioning the organization for long -term growth and change. And while I'm continuing to sing your praises and the organization, you get to work with a really energetic and wonderful, highly qualified team of development professionals. And you have the task and the challenge of increasing revenues year over year.

Cathy Zemaitis (04:23)

Yeah.

Abbey Henderson (04:44)

supporting all of the crazy, amazing projects that we'll get to talk about, and of course, broadening the base of donors and support, which includes individuals, corporations, foundations. You get to work with the board, and you are always looking to define and refine strategies for...

cultivating, leveraging, and expanding the donor base. And I could go on and on and on. But why don't you start by telling us how you ended up at NEADS? Because I know you didn't start in the nonprofit world.

Cathy Zemaitis (05:16)

Thank you.

I did not start in the nonprofit world and it was a very crooked path that brought me to NEADS who said God writes straight in crooked lines. And that's exactly how I got to NEADS. I've always been very entrepreneurial. And after wrapping up a career in education, I combined my entrepreneurial passion with my other passion and Abbey, this is how we met, my other passion, which is horses.

Abbey Henderson (05:53)

It is.

Cathy Zemaitis (05:56)

specifically the sport of dressage, by opening Rider Sport, which was a bricks and mortar mobile unit and online shop for sport horse enthusiasts. And when Rider Sport closed, I went back to teaching, but I also kept busy with various projects, planning events for nonprofits and assisting for -profit businesses interface with the nonprofit sector. And a friend of mine interviewed for the position of director of development at NEADS.

And when she was unable to accept the position, she suggested that the CEO, our CEO, Jerry DeRoche, contact me. The job was offered. I happily accepted. And at the end of the day, development does require someone with an entrepreneurial bent, someone who has independent thinking, the ability to work successfully in many different settings. And my experience allowed me to hit the ground running and build a strong development team.

who stayed on at NEADS over the years and helped make the place what it is today. I mean, they always say hire people that do what you can't do. That's what I did. And there's a development team of seven and they are amazing.

Abbey Henderson (07:10)

awesome and you know I don't want to entirely go down this path but what I love about your story is that like you are a perfect example of someone that sort of has pivoted their career multiple times based on what you love to do, what your values are and that's you know that's what I hope for for all of our listeners and all of our all of my clients that that you know you can pivot to things that just are in alignment with who you are.

Cathy Zemaitis (07:38)

You know, I think it's important to always be always about the yes. I mean, that's what that's my little mantra. I'm about the yes. You want XYZ? Yes. And then look in front of you and see what's coming at you. Oftentimes we don't stop and look at what's coming our way. We just are just going, right? You got to stop and look at what's coming your way because that's when doors open. And I have to say, I've had a lot of...

Abbey Henderson (07:55)

Mm -hmm.

Cathy Zemaitis (08:06)

careers in my life and NEADS by far is the best one.

Abbey Henderson (08:12)

perfect segue into telling me what makes NEADS such a special place.

Cathy Zemaitis (08:16)

You know, the Pat easy answer would say, it's because of our mission. But it's really because of our mission and it's because of our people, which is definitely true. But beyond that, it's also because of the many varied partnerships that we've worked to cultivate and maintain over the years. So if we talk about the mission first and foremost, NEADS was founded in 1976 as a hearing dog organization serving those who are deaf,

or suffer from profound hearing loss and through excellent leadership over the years, NEADS programs have expanded to include service dogs for adults and children with physical disabilities, children with autism and other developmental disabilities, our nation's veterans who have physical disabilities or are deaf. It goes on and on. We've expanded our outreach to include assistance dogs, which are dogs who work with professionals in the classroom.

ministry, therapy, hospital, or first responder settings. And we call these dogs one dog for many, as their influence goes beyond an individual and touches a wide variety of people throughout their working lives. These dogs bring independence and a lifelong support to those with whom they're working side by side. What else? Yeah, it's incredible.

Abbey Henderson (09:35)

The graduation is amazing. How many graduations have I gone to where the service dogs graduate with their human partner and I am just in tears.

Cathy Zemaitis (09:45)

Yeah, yeah. And you know, these stories go on every day at, you know, at NEADS. And since 1976, we've matched over 2 ,000 dogs with folks. So, you know, we've been very successful, we're a leader in the service dog industry, and again, so proud of that, so proud. Staff at NEADS are highly skilled professionals who...

dedicate their time to bringing forward world -class service dogs from our breeding center staff and You can't believe the staff or a breeding center staff and our canine center staff to our trainers our instructors our administrative staff client services staff grounds and maintenance professionals Everyone works hard each and every day to support our clients our puppies our dogs our donors our supporters our partners in our properties and

Abbey Henderson (10:34)

Mmm.

Cathy Zemaitis (10:40)

That's 24 -7 job and the dedication of our station takes a village. The dedication of our staff is second to none. And I mean, partnerships, the reason I'm sitting here today is because of our partnership, Abbey, of which I value it personally and I value it professionally as well. We have lots of different partnerships. The Mass Department of Corrections comes immediately to mind. And through our prison pups,

Abbey Henderson (10:43)

Take some village.

Cathy Zemaitis (11:09)

Partnership NEADS Dogs are trained by incarcerated individuals in five different prisons in Mass in Rhode Island. Our dogs live with the incarcerated volunteer handlers five days a week. And on the weekends, the pups are picked up by caring individuals or families who devote their weekend time to socializing the service dogs in training and giving them the experience they would need once matched with a client.

They start with low -key visits to maybe the library to advancing as the dog progresses to town trips, train rides, visits to busy, crowded, and often distracting places, and this socialization is imperative to bring along a dog that continues to work for their handler no matter the setting.

Abbey Henderson (11:59)

Hmm. It's so fun in around this area. We'll, we'll all see the puppies in training out and about on the weekends doing their training and they're, they're in their little blue training vests. And sometimes you don't, it, you know, we always say that a great service dog, you often don't even know that they're there. so sometimes you have to kind of really be paying attention to see them tucked under a table or at a restaurant or, or whatever, but it's, it's always so fun to see them.

Cathy Zemaitis (12:10)

Yeah.

Right.

Abbey Henderson (12:28)

out and about and thank goodness for these weekend puppy raisers who take the time to do it.

Cathy Zemaitis (12:32)

Yeah, and they're our greatest advocates because people do see them out and about in the community. And we've really expanded the Weekend Puppy Raiser program to include a full -time puppy raiser program and a college raising program where students who are in colleges are raising our pups. We're pretty excited about that. That's pretty new. We have a couple of colleges on board.

Abbey Henderson (12:50)

wow.

Cathy Zemaitis (13:01)

But I do want to say, if you're interested in becoming a NEADS Raiser, please visit NEADS, NEADS.org to get started. We're actively recruiting individuals and families who'd like to be a part of the raising and training of a NEADS service dog.

Abbey Henderson (13:18)

And we'll put a link to that specific information in the show notes as well. Yeah.

Cathy Zemaitis (13:19)

That would be awesome. We need you. You are essential. Massachusetts has been decreasing its prison population, so there are fewer incarcerated individuals who are able to help us train the dogs in the prisons. So we really need individuals and families to open their hearts in their homes and help us get these dogs going.

Abbey Henderson (13:46)

So quick question on that, because I suspect that listeners may be saying, well, I would love to do that. And also, how would I ever give up that puppy when it was time to be matched? What's your advice or what's your answer when people say that?

Cathy Zemaitis (14:03)

My answer is, first of all, personally, I don't know how you keep the puppy up, but we're very, very aware of that it NEADS. And you are very, very much supported throughout the entire process, including the process of giving the puppy up for, it's usually for additional training and then they go on to be matched. But for example, the incarcerated individuals may say, you know what?

Abbey Henderson (14:06)

You

Cathy Zemaitis (14:32)

when this dog, because they're giving up a dog, not a puppy, leaves, I want another puppy right away, because I need to have that presence in my space. And so we will work really hard to do that. And we do that for the individuals kind of on the outside who help us as well. Or they might say, that was exhausting. I need a break. And they get a break. But we have an incredible staff that

Abbey Henderson (14:39)

Mm.

Thank you.

Cathy Zemaitis (15:00)

their only job is to support the puppy raisers. So you're never alone, you're always supported. And the dog that you are giving up, I mean, you think of it as giving up, but you're really giving it forward to someone. And this dog is going to help those people have an incredible life, whether it's someone with a disability and the dog's working directly for them, or if it's someone,

who works as a teacher or a first responder, and that dog is going to touch the lives of so many people. So they touch the lives of so many people while they're in training, and they continue as they go out and about. So we so value our puppy raisers. And come on, you know, come on down, we could use you.

Abbey Henderson (15:48)

Yeah. So I got you totally sidetracked. You were on the track of talking about some of your other long -term partnerships. So talk a little bit about that.

Cathy Zemaitis (15:58)

So yeah, I mean, again, there's a lot of different ways that you can partner with us. And then there's our business partnerships. And we're very thankful to have those. Again, Abbey, thank you. You are one of our longest standing business partners. You have been active with us not only as a generous donor, but also as the former chair of our board of directors. You're staying on board with us in an advisory capacity.

We couldn't be more grateful. We're never letting you go. Just record is saying that you're not allowed to leave. As you know, I keep putting you on various committees and then I tell you afterwards, I tell you you're on the stewardship committee. You know, other long time partnerships include Boston Duck Tours, Harbor Sweets Chocolates, the Black Dog, the Boston Red Sox through their Service Dog of the Game initiative.

Abbey Henderson (16:30)

You're going to have a hard time getting rid of me.

See ya.

Yeah.

Cathy Zemaitis (16:55)

I mean, I could go on and on, but the most important thing to know is that we deeply value our relationships, which with, do I need to start over again with that? The train went by.

Wendy (17:06)

Yeah, you can just, do you remember what you were saying when it first went by?

Cathy Zemaitis (17:11)

I'll start with some of our other long -term partnerships include Boston Duck Tours, Harbor Sweets Chocolates, the Black Dog, the Boston Red Sox, through their Service Dog of the Game initiative. I could go on. But the most important thing to know is that we deeply value our relationships with each and every one of our business partners. And we work hard to ensure that the partnerships are mutually beneficial.

As a nonprofit, we don't just say, give me, we say, thank you for helping us. How can we help you? And then of course there's our donors. They're amazing. It's unusual for a nonprofit organization to maintain long standing donors and NEADS has a history of maintaining relationships with so many of our donors who stay with us year after year. Our mission resonates with them. We keep them up to date on what's happening on our campuses.

and elsewhere and they support us and sometimes they support us beyond our wildest dreams.

Abbey Henderson (18:14)

and we love those donors. So there's always amazing things going on on campus and in the organization. Tell us a little bit about some of the interesting projects that you guys are currently working on.

Cathy Zemaitis (18:15)

We do love them.

I mean, you've been with us long enough to know, Abbey, that there's never a dull day at Meads and there's always, you know, there's always interesting projects. And we're currently getting ready to kick off a capital campaign to raise funds to build a veterinary clinic and to revitalize our early learning center on the main Princeton campus. We have two campuses. Our second campus houses our breeding center.

Abbey Henderson (18:36)

There is not.

Cathy Zemaitis (18:57)

That was our most recent capital project. This one will be right on our main campus It's a three million dollar project that will round out our 12 year. Can you believe that 12 year campus renovation project? Which included the Cathy Foreman client house the Deborah Hawkins canine center the breeding center and now the veterinary clinic and early learning center, you know Yes

Abbey Henderson (19:08)

I can.

So I'm curious, thinking back, because I was around for the client house, as were you, of course. And when that was going on, did you ever think that 12 years later it would be culminating with a veterinary clinic? I sure didn't.

Cathy Zemaitis (19:23)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Never in 10 ,000 years, and never in 10 ,000 years did I think we were gonna have two properties, two campuses. I always thought we'd be on our little 16 acres right there in Princeton, Massachusetts, and now we're on two separate properties, one in Sterling and one in Princeton. And it's pretty shocking. When you think back, again, you're rolling and you're always looking at what's in front of you and saying yes, but when you take that moment to,

Abbey Henderson (19:42)

But yes.

Amazing.

It kinda is.

Cathy Zemaitis (20:06)

reflect? You know, my gosh, how does that even happen? It's amazing. So no, we have we now have a full time veterinarian and veterinary staff. And now,

Abbey Henderson (20:10)

Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah.

So tell you a little bit about like what that means because maybe where things started on in the veterinary side and the challenges there and how the center's gonna resolve some of those things.

Cathy Zemaitis (20:31)

Yeah. So, as you can imagine, our dogs are in training, are spread out. I mean, our service dogs are spread out too, but our dogs and training are spread out. They're at various prisons. They're with families, they're with individuals, and these are living, breathing, growing dogs who require veterinary care, either because it's just routine veterinary care or because something happens. They also require.

a lot of different testing so that we know that they're healthy. There's the hips, there's the eyes, there's the cardiovascular system, that's all of that. And when we expanded to have a breeding program, now we're looking at veterinary care, not only for the dogs that are in training, but also for the moms, for the puppies. There's the whole whelping, birthing process that may require veterinary care. We have a very capable breeding center staff, but sometimes you need a veterinarian. We always depended on volunteers.

And that, as wonderful as it is, and we still do depend on volunteers for some things, but as you can imagine, when you need a vet and you need them right away, it's hard to get a volunteer to do that. So we thankfully hired Dr. Catherine Cleveland last year. She is amazing. She is our full -time vet. We have two full -time.

veterinary staff that work with her that will probably expand once the veterinary center is open. But this allows us now to give full veterinary care on campus. It's much less stressful, for example, a mom who's in the process of giving birth and now all of a sudden needs a c -section to have a vet to do it right there as opposed to we've got to call a center, an emergency center, see if they're open, put the dog in the car.

It's just so much more relaxing and so much more relaxing for us for sure, but less stressful for the dogs to give them full world -class care that they deserve right there. And when they need it, yeah, this is probably my most exciting project because it's just, it's very cool. So yep, we're kicking off a capital campaign. Obviously you'll be able to donate to that. I don't know. I'm gonna be doing my job.

Abbey Henderson (22:41)

Amazing.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

And you know I'll say yes.

Cathy Zemaitis (22:55)

Yeah. and we're getting that that'll soon be posted on our website. There's all kinds of naming opportunities and, we already have a lot of interest in it. So we've actually already raised funds. So, pretty exciting. I always say that it's going to be a two or three year capital campaign. I've said that every single time for the last 12 years, and we've always wrapped up the capital campaign in about a year. So that speaks to me.

Abbey Henderson (23:21)

Well, it speaks to the compelling mission, right? And the project.

Cathy Zemaitis (23:24)

Thanks to our amazing donors, Abbey, you know, I mean, it's, you know, it's folks who everything from folks who just give us $25 to, to people of means who come on as some of our lead donors. And it's part of their portfolio and part of what they do. I mean, and that's what, but you do too, Abbey, you help people decide how to utilize their money in the most compelling and useful way. And,

Abbey Henderson (23:27)

Also true.

Cathy Zemaitis (23:53)

So yeah, we've got great donors. We love them.

Abbey Henderson (23:57)

So I wanna pivot. I know that you do and NEADS does a lot of advocacy work. So what issues are you tackling at the moment?

Cathy Zemaitis (24:08)

sure. We do a lot of advocacy work, especially around the whole fake service dog issue. This has probably been one of the most visible stances we've taken in recent years. NEADS has been working with Representative Kim Ferguson to bring pending legislation to commission. And we have high hopes that this will be the year, not that the bill is passed. That would be just asking way too much, but that it will go to commission.

Abbey Henderson (24:34)

Yeah.

Cathy Zemaitis (24:37)

and be studied in commission. And I think ultimately, if it's studied in commission, the buy -in will be much higher because we'll be able to show we've studied this issue. We have data to back up our study. And now, please let's get this through the House and the Senate and on the governor's desk. So hopefully that all starts this year. And.

Abbey Henderson (25:03)

And just a quick word about how having dogs sort of with an Amazon purchase service dog vests that are not trained in a public space. Just say a couple of words about how that impacts NEADS clients and our legitimate service dog.

Cathy Zemaitis (25:25)

You know, we live in a society where folks feel like they need or want to take their dogs absolutely everywhere that they go.

Abbey Henderson (25:34)

And I get that as a dog lover. I.

Cathy Zemaitis (25:36)

I get it too. I get it too. But one has to remember that not all dogs are meant to be marching out there in public. Not all dogs have the temperament to do that. Not all dogs are happy doing that. And for a lot of dogs, pets, it's very stressful for them to be out in a pub in a public place that's busy on an airplane in an enclosed space with

changing pressurization. It's stressful for the dog. And the other problem is that a lot of folks don't really train their dogs to behave properly out in public. So it's really disheartening for us at NEADS because as you probably have picked up on all the years you've been with us, it's purpose breeding, it's intensive training and socialization that bring along a service dog.

that's going to help mitigate the disability of someone who needs it. And so when someone says to gain access to a public space that doesn't allow pets, well, this is my service dog. They're doing two things. They're putting the proprietor of that public space in a real rough spot. They're putting their dog in a real rough spot. And they are saying to the proprietor,

I have a disability. So they're, they're, and not interpreting, what's the word you guys, I want, they are impersonating someone with a disability. They bring in a dog who's ill -suited to be in a public space and the dog acts out, misbehaves, disrupts the normal course of business and makes it really hard when a real service dog goes into that same space. Because now what they've had, they've had a bad.

experience. And now they're kind of like, I don't want to let you into my space because the last quote unquote, air quotes here, service dog I let in was just a nightmare. Public spaces really do need to understand that they, yes, they have responsibilities to allow a service dog access, but they also have rights. And I, I mean, that's why we brought in our red net, our red vest initiative, because we do want to tell people, yeah, you have responsibilities, but you also have rights.

And you're only going to help us if you exercise those rights, because otherwise it's going to be crazy. We got a call from Tanglewood that said, we are inundated with people bringing in their pets and we don't know how to handle this. They're saying they're service dogs. So we're working with them and other places to give them red vest designation. Which means that.

Abbey Henderson (28:14)

Mm -hmm.

Cathy Zemaitis (28:31)

Their staff has been trained. They understand how to handle someone saying, this is my service dog coming in. And they also know when they can ask someone to remove their dog from the premises. And that has everything to do with the behavior of the dog.

Abbey Henderson (28:41)

Mm.

going back to the point that a good service dog, you shouldn't even know that they're.

Cathy Zemaitis (28:50)

We didn't even know they're there. We had a woman who was in a wheelchair working with a needs dog go into a restaurant. She was allowed into the restaurant. She sat down. She was near a table with someone else with a service dog. The fake service dog started misbehaving, barking, lunging, growling. The woman with the fake service dog said, you need to tell her to leave. She's disrupting my dog.

And of course, you know, people who are working with the service dog don't want any attention on them. And they, right? They, the person with the real service dog who was under the table doing nothing said, you know what? I'm just going to leave. And they left. And the person with the barking, growling, lunging woman who raised a ruckus because, my service dog, they stayed. That's so unfair. So unfair.

Abbey Henderson (29:27)

their life.

Yeah, that makes me sad.

Cathy Zemaitis (29:49)

Yeah, it's pretty horrible. So yeah, we're pretty, we would love to have a bill passed that makes it illegal for you to try to pass off your pet as a service dog. But by the same token, we've created this red vest designation so that a place of public access will have the sticker in their window. People who are going in with a service dog are comfortable because they know that those folks know their rights and their responsibilities.

And people with pets go, they kind of know why they can kick me out. You have to let someone in. If they say, this is my service dog, and they answer the questions correctly, you can ask them to leave immediately if the dog is disrupting the normal course of business. So yeah, we work with Tanglewood, Symphony Hall, Fenway Park, Polar Park. We work with a lot of places to help them understand their responsibilities and their rights. And I think their rights are,

Abbey Henderson (30:24)

Mm -hmm.

Cathy Zemaitis (30:47)

equally as important as their responsibilities.

Abbey Henderson (30:52)

So you know that you and I could probably talk about this for another hour, at least. But tell us two things. One, what would you like listeners to take away from this episode? And then also where, we touched on it a little bit before, but where can they learn more about you and about me?

Cathy Zemaitis (30:54)

forever.

Sure. I would just love everybody to remember that NEADS is a longstanding expert in the service dog sector, that we meticulously breed, raise, train, and match these amazing animals with people who need them, and that NEADS, world -class service dogs, change lives. Please visit NEADS.org, come to campus for a visit, attend one of our events.

I also encourage folks to consider volunteering for us, most especially as a puppy raiser. We're looking for folks to do that now.

Abbey Henderson (31:47)

Thank you.

Wendy (31:50)

So Abbey, how do people get in touch with you if they have some questions?

Abbey Henderson (31:55)

Think and touch with me all the usual ways. So email abbey@aberisfinancialgroup .com on the website, www.abarisfinancialgroup.com. I'm on LinkedIn, both individually and my firm, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. We'll have links to everything in the show notes.

Wendy (32:16)

All right, so thank you both and thank you for listening today. Please like, follow, and share this podcast with your friends. Until next time, I'm Wendy McConnell.

ProudMouth (32:30)

Thank you for listening to the Wealth Beyond Riches podcast. Be sure to visit our website at www.abarisfinancialgroup.com. And don't forget to click the follow button to be notified when new episodes become available. The opinions voiced in Wealth Beyond Riches with Abbey Henderson are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine what may be appropriate for you, consult with your attorney, accountant, financial or tax advisor.

prior to investing. Guests on Wealth Beyond Riches are not affiliated with CWM LLC. Investment advisory services offered through CWM LLC, an SEC -registered investment advisor.