The February meeting of Ada Junior Civic League was held recently with Erin Swick, as hostess and Sherry Evans as co-hostess.

Club members prepared the lasagna dinner for Crockpot Tuesday at Restore on Feb. 26.  JCL will sponsor the donor diner at the Ada Bloodmobile on March 25. The special projects committee is considering several important community programs for the annual donation from the annual pecan sale.

The program for the evening was the Polar Paws Service Dog Training Program. Three students, along with their dogs, Monty, Amity, and Chaos spoke to the group.

There are currently 9 dogs on campus being trained for children with disabilities and some veterans with PSTD. The handlers stated that the dogs are bred especially for this program. They are given a service vest at 2 weeks of age to become accustomed to wearing and begin their training with a prison program out of Dayton, Ohio. 

From there they are matched with a handler.  The students are responsible for basic obedience training and teaching socialization skills for up to a year depending on how well the dog performs.  The dog is then tested and will go on to medical training if successful. If the dog does not pass it will be put up for adoption. Students take classes and follow strict guidelines to be a handler/trainer which qualifies as service hours that the university requires each student to complete.

The Junior Civic League next meeting is at the home of Bev Romick with Phyllis Griffith as co-hostess on Monday, March 11 at 7 p.m. Speakers for the evening will be Chrystal and Josh Hanna who will speak about their mission trip to Haiti.