Community Comes Together to Get 6-Year-Old a Service Dog
Mason Bowling & Kevin
Mason Bowling is a 4-year-old child on the autism spectrum with a genetic chromosome disorder. Since 2019, his parents have wanted to get him a service dog because they thought that the dog could help him improve his daily life, but lacked the funds to do so. In an effort to purchase a service dog, they turned to their community to help them fundraise. The Bowling family were so grateful to see the amount of support they got from the generous community members while they helped raise money to get their little boy a service dog.
Bowling’s mom, Danielle Bowling, wanted him to have a service dog so he could improve his social skills and anxiety. Unfortunately, “Mason hasn’t been able to make any friends at school, so this service dog would really help him become more confident in a way that the dog would become his best friend”, she said to News Channel 11.
Bowling’s mom created a Facebook group to reach out to the community by sharing charity events and updates on their progress. At the beginning, there were not that many donations, but more and more people started to help. Even Damon Johnson, a former professional basketball player for the Keflavik basketball team, organized a special charity event to help Mason. He set up a charity basketball tournament and raised thousands of dollars so that Mason could have his service dog.
“I hope this brings attention to autism, attention to kids that need service dogs, and attention to the fact that dogs are there to help kids in this situation,” says Johnson before the event to News Channel 11. Thanks to Johnson’s help and all the generous donations of other community members, Bowling and his family were able to meet their goal. The family’s dream was going to come true!
Bowling waited 2 years to finally get his new dog. Nowadays, he is 6 years old, and he is finally able to bring his new dog, Kevin, home in April of 2020. Kevin is an adorable black Labrador who is being trained for search and rescue, for recovering medication just in case that’s needed in the future, to control his meltdown, aggression and to help him with his social interactions.
Kevin hasn’t lived that long with the family, but he already has a special bond with Bowling. This adorable dog is already getting used to Mason’s life and routine, and he seems very comfortable with his new family.
“I hope he is understood better, by Kevin calming him. We’ve tried everything we could think of and nothing works. We’re hoping that this will be it”, says Bowling’s mom to News Channel 11. Bowling was able to graduate Kindergarten with Kevin by his side. It was a very long and hard journey to be able to bring them together, but by the joy on their faces; it was all worth it.