WACO, Ky. — Amid a sea of small sneakers and colorful backpacks, Joy’s four furry paws and swishing fluffy tail stood out while padding through the hallways of a Central Kentucky elementary school Wednesday morning.

Joy, a new therapy dog in training, treated the students of Waco Elementary School to a special visit to thank students for raising the most money for the area’s Hospice Care Plus.

And doggone it, she was a hit.

“We wanted to do something special to introduce Joy to the community,” Sarah Rollins, special event coordinator for Hospice Care Plus, explained. “So we decided to do a fundraiser with all the elementary schools in February, and the majority of the schools elected to do ‘Hats for Hospice.’ The students could bring in a dollar and wear a hat to school on special days. The school who raised the most money would win a visit from Joy. Waco raised the most out of all the participating elementary schools, but all the schools did so well that we decided we would take Joy to all the schools.”

The students of Waco Elementary raised $1,425, ultimately winning the special visit from Joy. In total, local elementary schools raised a total of $4,605.48 for the non-profit.

Fifth graders and student coordinators of the school’s “Hats for Hospice” fundraiser, Tyler Agee and Kaitlyn Abshear, said they were excited to meet Joy.

“We’ve been waiting for her and we’ve spent weeks talking about her visit,” Abshear said of the puppy with a purpose. “We were so happy to be the winner of the contest.”

Agee said he is proud Waco students raised the most money for Hospice as it shows the school cares about others in the community.

Agee and Abshear said they were also delighted to know that while most of the school’s donation will go to support the non-profit’s programming and into its general fund, a portion of the donation will go towards future training for Joy.

“It feels good to know that we are helping her,” Abshear said. “We are helping her, and she will go on to help others. It’s a good thing to be a part of.”

Agee said he has seen first-hand how important therapy dogs are to people.

“Dogs are just the best and they really do help people in all sorts of ways. Therapy dogs really make people’s lives better. They make them happy,” Agee said.

During her visit, the six-month-old puppy spent the morning sniffing shoes, being petted and wowing classrooms with a few of the tricks she has learned while undergoing training to become a therapy dog.

“She’s still in school, too,” Rollins told a class of third graders while Joy was led around the room by Hospice Development Coordinator Nikki Stuart.

“She’s still learning about her new job and is a puppy so she might lick you, but that is all,” Rollins noted as Joy received numerous pats and scratches behind her ears. “When she is done with her training, she will work with us full-time at our care center. She will comfort our patients and families and will be taught not to jump or enter rooms unless she is invited.”

While exhausting work for a puppy, Rollins said the visit to the school was good experience for Joy – serving as a win-win for all involved.

“It gives us a chance to talk to students and teachers about Hospice — who we are and what we do for the community and why we are here — and it also gives Joy some good experience interacting with people,” Rollins said. “She is going to have an important job and we want to make sure she is successful and the community knows about her.”

To her future co-workers, Joy is already living up to her name and true purpose.

“We think she will be a great therapy dog,” Stuart said of the golden retriever. “She is so calm and sweet and it’s like she already knows which children need some special attention. When we went into a classroom with students that had special needs, we saw a change in her. Before she was a little rambunctious and was wagging her tail a lot, but in that classroom she calmed down.”

“She went and laid her head in the lap of a student who was wheelchair bound so that the student could pet her. She is doing so great and I think she will really be able to help and make a difference to someone one day.”

As the winner of the contest, in addition to the visit from Joy, the students got to take a group photo with the therapy dog. The photo will hang in the school’s office area.

Joy will visit the other participating schools throughout the month of March. After spending a few weeks in elementary schools, she’s headed to middle school, of course.

“Most of the middle schools also participated in a fundraiser for Hospice in February by having dress-down days,” Rollins said. “Clark-Moores Middle raised the most money for us, so Joy is going to visit the school in April.”

Barker writes for the Richmond, Kentucky Register.