The nonprofit Paws & Effect is experiencing a “restart” according to Executive Director and Founder Nicole Shumate.
Originally formed in 2006 in Des Moines, Iowa, the nonprofit expanded to Western North Carolina when Shumate moved to Black Mountain in 2017. Paws & Effect now works to place service dogs in both Iowa and North Carolina.
Shumate said she started the nonprofit as a therapy dog organization that worked with children at a local hospital in Des Moines. She said she had moved to the area from Colorado where she was previously involved with therapy dog organizations. When she did not see one in Des Moines, she started one herself.
Shumate said the organization “morphed itself” into placing service dogs when she got connected with the local National Guard.
“I kind of figured we would just do one round of service dogs and it be one and done,” Shumate said. “It just ended up changing the course of Paws & Effect.”
When Shumate moved to Black Mountain, she was still working remotely on Paws & Effect in Iowa. She said while she was focused on Iowa, the nonprofit was still placing a small amount of service dogs in North Carolina at the same time.
When the pandemic hit, Shumate said Paws & Effect was in the process of placing service dogs. It took the organization 18 months to place the animals.
“During that 18 months, we did not bring in puppies because we weren’t sure we were going to be able to give them the opportunities that they would need to become well-rounded service dogs,” Shumate said.
In 2022, Paws & Effect started fundraising again to start bringing more service dogs to North Carolina.
After two years of fundraising, more dogs were on their way.
Then Tropical Storm Helene hit Western North Carolina a week after the first dog arrived.
Shumate said that dog was sent back because Paws & Effect had no way to take care of it while surviving the storm.
Now, Shumate said Paws & Effect is ready to start again.
“This is our restart,” Shumate said. “We’ve been doing the same thing I think the rest of the community has been doing, which is really just kind of picking up the pieces. Our goal is to have the puppies here in Asheville in September or October, and that will launch the next round of placements.”
Paws & Effect places dogs with “community-based puppy raisers” and covers all veterinary costs along with food and toys. The organization meets with the volunteers weekly to help give the puppies public experiences. These experiences can range from going to see Christmas lights to going to baseball games and even Disneyland.
“We really want them to be solid dogs,” Shumate said.
The dogs are with these community partners from 12-15 months. When they return to Paws & Effect, the dogs complete their training with the clicker training method and are then placed with a recipient at no cost.
After Helene, Shumate said the work Paws & Effect can do is important for the community.
She said Paws & Effect is fundraising and doing community outreach to help with their efforts. These events include bingo nights at Wild Wings Cafe in Arden and a book club.
Shumate said Paws & Effect can help not only by placing service dogs, but also by “leveraging some” expertise, which she said will be needed as Western North Carolina continues to recover from Helene.
“I think over the next two years we’re going to find a lot of people whose injuries didn’t resolve as well as we had hoped,” Shumate said. “Whether those are physical injuries or psychiatric injuries, I think we’re going to find out over time that not everybody bounced all the way back.”
Karrigan Monk is the Swannanoa Valley communities reporter for Black Mountain News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com.
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