For the past two years, Steve and Judy Schoenherr, along with Jewel, a trained Lutheran Church Charities K-9 comfort dog, have been traveling around the country as a ministry with Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church.
“I started volunteering with Smoky Mountain Service Dogs and then our daughter, who lives in Chicago, told us about LCC. We experienced that in 2013 in about November,” Steve said. “In order to pursue it — Jewel is the church’s dog — we had to get a commitment for $12,000 from the church. There are five other families beside us that are involved with the ministry.”
Jewel was trained for 3,000 hours beginning at eight weeks old before she was purchased by Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church in August 2014.
“That’s why we paid so much money for her because she came to us already trained,” Steve said.
The goal of the comfort dog ministry is to provide hurting people with peace, mercy and a sense of relief through interacting with Jewel.
“The dog is a bridge for us to bring the comfort,” Steve said.
Members of the church support Jewel by providing for her upkeep, including doctor appointments and food.
“We’ve also received a lot of contributions from those we support through hard times,” Judy said.
“When we go outside of the immediate area, members also help with traveling expenses,” Steve said, explaining they’ve visited Orlando, Baton Rouge, Chattanooga and Gatlinburg since June.
The first time LCC used comfort dogs was during Hurricane Katrina, when organizers realized people would not leave their houses without their animals, so they bought four flat bottom boats to rescue people and their pets.
“That gave them an idea how important pets are to their people,” Judy said.
Before the Schoenherrs shouldered the responsibility to house Jewel, they required a commitment from at least one other couple in the church so they could travel as needed.
“We all have the same commands and the same standards,” Judy said. “She does stay in this other couple’s house, and they keep her at least one day a week.”
All of Jewel’s handlers are required to follow the same commands and expectations, including preventing her from barking, eating human food, getting on the furniture or getting in bed, which helps Jewel act accordingly for the people she’s around, without getting easily agitated.
“I think another part of the training involves visiting several nursing homes and the Child Advocacy Center,” Judy said. “We need to be trained to interact with the people as well. Not to say anything, but just to listen. If the situation is appropriate, we ask the people if we can pray with them. We’re almost never turned down.”
Jewel’s situation is unique, with most therapy dogs only being owned by one person. By being part of six different families, Jewel is able to get involved with different situations as needed.
Working through the emotions is an important aspect of the ministry for Steve, Judy and Jewel.
“Sometimes you can feel it creep up on you if you’re not careful,” Steve said, explaining Orlando was especially difficult in June.
“One of the things we do in those types of situations is we have a debriefing, where we talk about the day and what happened,” Judy said.
A significant time commitment is another aspect to the comfort ministry.
“We went to church at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, which is pretty usual,” Steve said about June 12. “When we got back home, we received a call asking us if we could be in Orlando by the following afternoon. We said, ‘Sure’.”
There are no time limits imposed on the ministry, staying as long as necessary, with other comfort dogs visiting Baton Rouge, the Boston marathon and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
After the police shooting in Baton Rouge, the couple stayed for two days and visited the hospital to talk with children and families affected.
“We also never go anywhere we’re not invited, unless the situation is very public,” Judy said.
Following the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, vigils were held outside where Steve, Judy and Jewel visited openly. They also attended the vigil in Maryville for the police officer shot in the line of duty.
“One of the latest memories for me was when I visited Loudon High School,” Judy said. “There was this student with cerebral palsy and autism who had her head in between her knees and wouldn’t look at anyone. There were maybe 12-15 high-schoolers in there, and I was maybe there for 45-50 minutes. Eventually, she looked up to see what was going on. I asked if she wanted to pet Jewel. By the time we left there, she was laughing and so excited. I gave her a little stuffed puppy. Afterward, the staff came up to tell me how nice it was to see her react because they hadn’t seen that from her in a long time.”
While visiting Chattanooga, a little boy who hadn’t talked about surviving the recent school bus accident opened up to Jewel and told her everything about that day, Steve said.
Judy worked with one of her counseling contacts to get to Chattanooga. After receiving the final go-ahead at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Steve and Judy arrived at 11 a.m.
“What impressed me the most was it was full of adults,” Judy said. “Only 90 of the 350 children came to school that day. They just needed a gathering spot.”
Although living in Tellico Village provides many opportunities, neither expected to be involved in this ministry.
“At our age, it’s given us a great sense of purpose by just giving back,” Judy said.
