A Yard Sale Fundraiser to raise money for a service dog for Finn Lowe will take place from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, at First United Methodist Church, 213 Washington St.
Finn is 8 years old and has autism. “While he is growing by leaps and bounds, his autism does make things difficult with his daily life,” according to Finn’s fundraising page on the Paws for Ability website,
“Finn tends to elope due to curiosity, lack of communication, and sensory needs. Finn has left our home when he was not supposed to, including in the middle of the night, which prompted police assistance for his safe return. Because of this, we have been fundraising to get Finn a safe sleep bed and a service dog. The bed is in process now, and the dog is coming along nicely.” The Lowe Family held a Glow Dance in November to raise money for the safe sleep bed and has been selling T-shirts on Finn’s Service Dog Yard Sale Facebook page. T-shirts are still available for purchase. “When we had the glow dance to raise money for Finn’s safe sleep bed, we had a goal of $6,000,” Becca Lowe, Finn’s mother, said. “With the community’s generosity, we came home that night with several thousand dollars above our goal! We thought, while we had this momentum, we would start fundraising for our ultimate safety goal for Finn — a service dog.”
Since the glow dance, Becca said they have done the T-shirt sale, which included local businesses as sponsors, and they continue to get donations from the community. “Right now we only need a little more than $5,000 to reach our goal,” she said. The training for a service dog to meet Finn’s requirements on average costs between $40,000-60,000 at 4 Paws for Ability, according to the fundraising page.