Wyckoff Resident Honored For Helping Disabled

The 13th Annual "Salute to Champions" was held on Friday at the Bergen County Plaza in Hackensack. Eleven people were recognized for their "unique accomplishments of individuals with disabilities and those persons in the community who perform selfless acts of assistance and advocacy on behalf of persons with disabilities", according to a press release by Bergen County Executive, Kathleen Donovan.

Jim Thebery, the Director of the Division added "we are extremely proud of all our champions". In 1978, Bergen County was the first county in the state to establish an office to serve the needs of residents with disabilities.

Janice Wolfe is the founder of Merlin's Kids. She is also a cancer survivor. Wolfe has dedicated her life to helping to provide service dogs for people with special needs. Most recently she has been working with children on the Autism Spectrum by matching dogs that can intuitively meet the unique needs of these children.

While Wolfe has rescued, trained and found placements for 61 dogs last year and 27 this year, she still has 70 more children on a wait list. She is inspired by the end result, "to see people who couldn't do it, do it".

Wolfe believes she is saving the world two lives at a time - a dog and child in need.