The Reed Foundation has donated £10,000 to Hypo Hounds, a charity based in Chart Sutton, Maidstone, which trains diabetic alert assistance dogs. The funding forms part of the Reed Foundation’s year-long initiative to donate £10,000 each week to a different charity, marking the 65th anniversary of the Reed Group and the 90th birthday of its founder, Sir Alec Reed.
The charities are chosen by Reed employees, selected at random to nominate a cause. The donation to Hypo Hounds was made at the request of Natalie Wilson, a recruitment specialist based in the company’s Maidstone office.
“I absolutely love animals and donate regularly to animal charities. But when I was awarded the 10k from the Reed Foundation to donate to a charity of my choice, I knew where it needed to go,” said Natalie.
“My colleague Kylie and I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Jane Pearman, CEO of Hypo Hounds, last summer at a Chamber of Commerce event. At the event, we met Scooby the alert dog. In 2014, Scooby saved Jane’s daughter Sophie’s life when she was just four months old. He woke Jane up as Sophie’s blood sugar level dropped. Without Scooby raising the alarm, Sophie would not be alive today. As a result, in 2016, Hypo Hounds were born.”
The dogs are trained to detect hypoglycaemic episodes and alert family members or the individual
Natalie added, “The story melted my heart and since its inception, the charity has prevented 54 other families from losing their children.”
Hypo Hounds trains dogs to detect and alert to dangerous changes in the blood sugar levels of people with Type 1 Diabetes. Most of the charity’s work supports children with no hypo awareness, although adults with clinical need can also be helped.
The dogs are trained to detect hypoglycaemic episodes and alert family members or the individual, helping to avoid life-threatening situations.
Jane Pearman, CEO of Hypo Hounds, said, “The wonderfully kind donation to Hypo Hounds by Reed Specialist Recruitment enabled Hypo Hounds to continue with their amazing puppy programme in 2024. Our amazing dogs who are now in their advanced stages of their training are in the process of being matched to their child client and will be going on to become lifesaving Diabetic Alert Assistance Dogs for them. We are so grateful to Reed for their support.”
