Our Story

paws4people foundation is a Wilmington, NC based non-profit that raises, trains, places & insures certified Assistance Dogs with Children, Civilians & Veterans living with different types of disabilities. Our Assistance Dogs are valued at $60,000, but placed with all of our clients at no cost to them. paws4people is a Full Accredited Member of Assistance Dogs International (ADI). paws4people foundation was founded by Kyria Henry in 1999, when she was just 12 years old, with the purpose of using dogs as a means of helping people. We have 500 highly trained Assistance Dogs with one or more certifications providing support in areas such as mobility and psychiatric service, educational and rehabilitative assistance, and therapeutic visitation. Together, these dogs have made more than 1,000,000 therapeutic contacts. Presently, we specialize in training customized Assistance Dogs for two general groups: children and adolescents with physical, neurological, psychiatric, and/or emotional disabilities; and Veterans and Service Members with Chronic/Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), and Military Sexual Trauma. Although most people today are aware of the benefits of service dogs for the blind or people with mobility impairments, there are many newer and unique applications using Assistance Dogs with which people are still unfamiliar – such as a Physical and/or Neurological Assistance Dog.