APRIL 2018 40 | {charity spotlight} GIVING BACK GABRIEL'S ANGELS Jamie Killin | WEB EDITOR PETS HELPING KIDS

APRIL 2018 | 41 After leaving her career in the corporate world, Gabriel’s Angels CEO and founder Pam Gaber decided to reconnect with Arizona by volunteering with what was known at the time as Crisis Nursery — now Child Crisis Arizona — a nonprofit that provides a safe haven for children who have been victims of abuse and neglect. Then, in 1999 she adopted her Weimaraner puppy Gabriel, not realizing the impact he would have on the children she was volunteering with. Each week, she would tell the kids stories about Gabriel and what he’d been up to — from his first bath to eating his bed. “Every Friday they’d ask, and it was ‘Gabriel ate his bed,’ and the next Friday it was ‘Gabriel ate another bed.’ One little boy looked at me and said, ‘Did you hit him?’ That made me realize that kids who are victims of abuse and neglect think that’s how you solve things,” Gaber said. “I said to him, ‘No, because in my house we don’t solve violence by hitting.’ I realized they were bonding through stories with Gabriel.” The children’s interest in Gabriel gave Gaber the idea of bringing him to the organization’s annual Christmas party. When the organization’s CEO didn’t say no, she brought him dressed up in a full Rudolph costume, and the kids immediately fell in love. “My intention was to say, ‘Here’s Gabriel. Here’s the dog you talked about and see pictures of,’ and my life would be the same,” Gaber said. “But that day those kids were different. They weren’t angry; they weren’t violent. They were loving and compassionate.” Gabriel’s impact was felt by even the most traumatized child, who hadn’t wanted to join the party and was crying in his room. Eventually he joined the event, and stopped crying once he’d hugged Gabriel. “I just watched a gentle soul reach children in a way no adult could. I got Gabe in the car, still wearing the antlers, and I looked in the rearview mirror while we were driving home and I said, ‘What did you just do?’ He just stared at me, but if he could have spoken I think he would have said, ‘Oh, silly human, I simply do what dogs do best,’” Gaber said. After realizing there was no organization that provided neglected and abused children with pet therapy, Gaber registered Gabriel as a therapy dog, helped a few friends do the same, and in 2000 created what is now Gabriel’s Angels. THE STORY Nationally, Arizona ranks fifth in the rate of children suffering from abuse and neglect, with 25,000 children statewide who could benefit from Gabriel’s Angels programs. The programs, which currently serve nearly 15,000 children annually through 122 partner agencies, provide more than just comfort to kids. They help children develop emotional skills such as trust, compassion and empathy through the unconditional love of animals. “Gabe brought out behaviors in kids that most of us have because someone cared enough about us to teach us those behaviors. But if kids are in an abusive household — even a household that’s at risk of abuse and neglect — no one really has the time to teach them empathy and compassion, because it’s so high-stress,” Gaber said. THE CAUSE