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HOUGHTON –The Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship will host a public forum online about the variety of ways that animals are used to help people. The event will take place at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, June 14. There will be two speakers.

Kate Larlee will describe how she uses her fully trained service dog, She will also describe the differences between ESAs and service dogs, and the legal rights associated with each. Kathryn Larlee grew up in Maine. She began her career as a DJ at a local radio station. Next she earned a degree in theatre and completed a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting. After teaching theatre for 17 years as an adjunct professor in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she attended law school at Michigan State University. After graduating, she worked at Elder Law of Michigan for three years before accepting her current position at Legal Services of Northern Michigan in 2017.

The second speaker, Andrea Senyk, will describe how she uses rabbits as emotional support animals (ESA) for nursing home residents and senior citizens. ESAs don’t have specific training and are not permitted in public places. A third category is a therapy animal that is trained to go to specific places, like nursing homes or to support crime victims during courtroom testimony. One of their rabbits, Cadbury, was recently certified as a therapy rabbit. He brings comfort and joy to everyone he meets, including nursing home residents, students during stressful final exam weeks, and many friends and neighbors. Andrea and her husband, Michael, raise Angora rabbits for their wool that can be used in fiber arts, such as needle felting and hand-spun yarn. Andrea and her husband both work at Michigan Tech.

The forum is open to the public and only available on zoom. Go to keweenawuu.org/worship/forums/ to access the Zoom link for the Forum.