on a positive note
Annie’s Angels… Pets for Vets & So Much More By Nancy Dewar
Since 2007 Stratham-based non-profit Annie’s Angels has raised more than $3.9 million to help local families in need. Their support has been far reaching, with their mission of helping local families struggling financially through a lifethreatening disease, illness, a disability and more. The organization is unique in that in addition to its standard programs, they are nimble enough to respond to a variety of tailored individual needs and requests. Annie’s Angels was founded in 2007 by Bill DaGiau in honor of his mother who he lost to breast cancer in 2002 and has responded to nearly 5,900 local requests to date. Bill’s journey from owning an auto repair shop in New Jersey to now is truly interesting and inspiring. Bill and his wife Diane moved to Stratham shortly after 9/11. Diane’s father had lived in New Hampshire for 35 years, and when Diane called him after this horrific event, her dad said, “Just come home.”
The DaGiau’s opened a deli in Stratham when they arrived in New Hampshire, a vast departure from automotive though Diane had extensive hotel and catering experience. Bill, an avid cyclist, got involved in numerous charity rides and began raising money for an array of worthy causes such as AIDS, Muscular Dystrophy and more. In fact, he once raised $75,000 riding his bike from Daytona to Exeter! A local philanthropic gentlemen offered him $15 per mile to do this ride. Bill laughed and said, “People like a train wreck," and he thought "I’d never do this." But he said, "I did it after 18 days of pedaling with four days off during the ride!” The inspiration to start the non-profit was a bit woo-woo. So, without going into great detail, suffice it to say that one day a
customer at the deli invited the DaGiau’s to attend a healing service at St. Theresa Church in Rye. The idea came to Bill during this service, and as they were driving home, Bill told Diane about it and said, “I’m going to do this whether you’re on board or not.” With zero experience in the non-profit world, Annie’s Angels became a reality and they’ve never looked back. In fact, Diane just came on board this year to assist with marketing, development and fundraising. Before that, Bill was a one-man-band…founder, administrator, finance guy, caseworker and janitor! Annie’s Angels offers a variety of unique ongoing assistance programs such as “Annie’s Helping Hands” (a multidisciplinary holistic oncology program where participants of the program are eligible to receive complimentary massage, reiki and meditation therapies for up to 6 months); “The Pass Along Project” (dedicated to providing clothes to children arriving in state foster care) and “Music Therapy at the Rhythm Tree” (a group of board certified therapists who help individuals with special needs build their self-esteem through music) to name a few. One of their pet projects that really caught my eye is “Angel’s Pets for Vets” where they work with local animal res-
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cue shelters to assist veterans and first responders in getting a companion animal for free. “I came up with this idea after watching a TV show where a guy in Arizona was training dogs for vets,” Bill explained. “It took us a few months to develop a plan to present to our board, but we got the program up and running.” This was in January 2015. Since its inception the program has raised over $70,000 and over 450 individuals have received com-
