Company Profile
Gabriel's Angels
Company Overview
Gabriel's Angels is a 501(c)(3) organization operating throughout the state of Arizona.
Mission: Gabriel’s Angels delivers healing pet therapy to at-risk children, nurturing their emotional development and enhancing the quality of their lives forever.
Vision: We envision a compassionate community.
Guiding Philosophy: Our work is driven by a passionate belief that the unconditional love of a dog can heal a child.
Company History
History: In 1999, Pam Gaber took Gabriel, a charming Weimaraner puppy into her family. As a volunteer at Crisis Nursery in Phoenix, she shared stories with the children about Gabe’s puppy-hood and adventures. Pam thought it would be fun to introduce Gabe, dressed as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, to the children at their annual holiday party. The response was amazing! Children, who regularly behaved violently towards others, approached Gabe with kindness. Others, who often refused to leave their rooms, crept shyly out to meet Gabe. The children’s behavioral change was so remarkable that Crisis Nursery staff asked Pam to “bring him again.”
Pam was aware that pets and their owners could become registered Pet Therapy Teams. She and Gabe registered through Pet Partners and continued their visits at Crisis Nursery. Friends and neighbors, upon hearing of Pam’s and Gabe’s experiences, thought they and their dogs could do this too. A small group came together, forming a “club” to reach out to children by providing Pet Therapy to groups of children struggling with environmental and family stressors. Demand for services continued to grow and soon it was clear a more formalized structure was needed.
Gabriel’s Angels was formed out of a pressing and documented need in the community to intervene in the lives of at-risk children and received 501(c)(3) status from the IRS in May of 2000. Gabriel’s Angels has grown to 180 registered Pet Therapy Teams serving over 14,500 children annually through 122 partner agencies in Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Yavapai Counties in Arizona. Teams visit crisis nurseries, domestic violence and homeless shelters, group homes, and at-risk children in after school programs and self-contained classrooms all in an effort to intervene in children’s lives and enhance their emotional and behavioral development by teaching core behaviors – attachment, confidence, self-regulation, affiliation, empathy, tolerance, and respect. Historically, services have been provided to groups of children at these agencies. In response to requests from our partner agencies, Gabriel’s Angels began a program expansion in 2012 to provide specialized one-on-one services through Individual Interventions. Individual Interventions are now available in metropolitan Phoenix and Tucson.