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When paying it forward comes full circle: Group formed to honor fallen EMT donates to organization that gave her special needs son an assistance dog

Jared Behr and Zuko. Courtesy photo: John Bentzinger/CCI

“It’s sort of like coming full circle,” June Behr said of the a generous donation by an organization founded in memory of her daughter, Heidi.

Heidi’s Helping Angels, founded in 2009 with the mission of furthering community service in the name of someone who gave her life while serving her community, is donating $1,000 to Canine Companions for Independence, which this summer provided an assistance dog for Heidi’s severely disabled son Jared.

The donation is being made to honor Heidi Behr’s parents, June and John, and her son Jared, who was just 15 months old when his mother, a Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps member, perished in an ambulance crash on May 3, 2005. She was 23 years old. The accident also claimed the life of RVAC paramedic Bill Stone, 30, of Ridge.

J“He was a friend we never knew we had,” said June Behr. “Of course we knew who Jimmy Stark was. Everyone in Riverhead Town knew who he was. Did I know him personally? Did we ever think in a million years that he would do all of this for us? Absolutely not.” Stark is pictured here with his wife Patricia at a 2014 Rotary breakfast. (File photo: Peter Blasl)
“He was a friend we never knew we had,” said June Behr. “Of course we knew who Jimmy Stark was. Everyone in Riverhead Town knew who he was. Did I know him personally? Did we ever think in a million years that he would do all of this for us? Absolutely not.” Stark is pictured here with his wife Patricia at a 2014 Rotary breakfast.  (File photo: Peter Blasl)

Former town supervisor Jim Stark founded the organization in 2010 to help Heidi’s legacy “pay it forward,” because “she was all about community service,” he said in a 2011 interview. When Stark became ill and knew he wouldn’t be able to handle the fundraising and organizing for the nonprofit, he passed the baton to Ron Schmitt of Jamesport, who now serves as its president. Stark passed away last year, but Heidi’s Helping Angels carries on and continues to pay it forward. The group has to date given away $48,000 in college scholarships to community service-minded students as well as provided assistance to local residents in need of help.

Helping another organization that helps people is a natural extension of its mission, Schmitt said. Enter Canine Companions for Independence — and the fact that a family they recently helped is Heidi Behr’s own family spurred the Heidi’s Helping Angels board to action.

Jared’s new companion dog, a 2-year-old black lab named Zuko is a perfect match for the boy, his grandmother said, remaining at the side of his wheelchair or bed and lying down with him when he’s on the floor stretching his limbs or playing.

Zuko is incredibly in tune with Jared, June Behr said. “When Jared has a seizure” — a regular occurrence — “he goes to the bed, sits and waits to make sure he’s OK,” she said.

The dog is very mellow, “a big mush” who “fits right in,” she said. “It feels like we’ve had him forever.”

“Zuko has made a big difference in his life,” Behr said. “He makes Jared smile. He opens his hand for him.”

The dog was part of a prior training team, but he wasn’t placed with anybody, Behr said. “It’s like he was waiting for Jared,” she said.

“He’s not rambunctious — and let’s face it with two old people and a severely disabled boy, we couldn’t do rambunctious,” she said, laughing. “He’s slow and we’re kind of slow. It’s a perfect match.”

John and June Behr helping Jared say hello to Zuko. Courtesy photo: John Bentzinger
John and June Behr helping Jared say hello to Zuko. Courtesy photo: John Bentzinger

June and John Behr have adopted their grandson, who was born with severe cognitive and physical disabilities due to complications of childbirth. Unable to speak or walk, he requires their constant care.

Prior to birth, the baby was in distress for an extended period. Her daughter had pre-eclampsia, a condition affecting some pregnant women that can be dangerous to both mother and unborn child. The obstetrician did an emergency cesarian section but expected the baby to be still born. Instead, he survived childbirth and despite doctors’ predictions that he would soon die and was not likely to even survive the transfer from Southampton Hospital to Stony Brook, he made it.

“I prayed and prayed.” Behr recalled her days spent in the neonatal intensive care unit at Stony Brook. “I told him over and over, ‘Jared, I will be the best nana you could ever have. I will bake you cookies and take you to parks…’ Little did I know I would end up raising him,” she said.

Their lives are a web of doctor’s visits and therapy sessions for Jared, now 12. “At first he seemed like a normal infant,” but in the first year of his life it became clear how impaired he was as a result of oxygen deprivation to his brain during and right after his birth, Behr said. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Jared is unable to speak or walk. Shortly after Heidi’s death, doctors declared Jared legally blind.

June Behr in her newly renovated home
June Behr, left, with architect Chuck Thomas and contractor Rich Podlas as the renovation neared completion in December 2010. File photo: Peter Blasl

The Behrs lived in a house in Riverhead that would need a lot of renovations to accommodate Jared’s special needs. Three times, friends nominated the Behrs for the ABC TV show “Extreme Makeover” — which selects a needy family whose home is in need of major renovations and completes the job for them free of cost. They made it to the final stages of the selection process, but didn’t get the nod from the show’s producers.

The news that “Extreme Makeover” had passed over the Behrs for another family inspired some local residents to take the project on for themselves. Former supervisor Jim Stark decided Riverhead would do its own “extreme makeover” for Heidi’s son and parents.

“After all she gave to our community as a volunteer EMT, saving lives and helping others, and then dying in the line of duty, while taking care of a sick man, I feel it’s the least we can do for her little boy,” Stark said in a 2010 interview.

Then fate intervened in the Behrs’ lives once again. Both of June’s parents passed away in 2009, leaving behind the home on the family farm where June and her siblings were raised on Oregon Road in Cutchogue. Though it wasn’t handicapped-accessible either, it had more space than the Behrs’ home in Riverhead and could potentially be more easily renovated to accommodate their needs. Stark, along with Jamesport architect Chuck Thomas — who is now a Heidi’s Helping Angels board member — and Riverhead contractor Rich Podlas, began soliciting help. They didn’t have to twist too many arms, they said. Heidi’s memory — both the way she lived her life and the way she died — inspired dozens of people to help out, providing materials and labor for free or at a deep discount. The Behrs moved into the renovated two-story home — complete with an elevator — early in 2011.

Johanna Benthal, 19, of Jamesport meets her new assistance dog, Rae, at Canine Companion's Medford campus last year. File photo: Katie Blasl
Johanna Benthal, 19, of Jamesport meets her new assistance dog, Rae, at Canine Companion’s Medford campus last year. File photo: Katie Blasl

CCI has an active presence on the North Fork, home to many puppy-raisers and several families with assistance dogs. The organization’s Long Island chapter president, Eileen Benthal, of Jamesport, whose special-needs daughter Johanna has had two assistance dogs and who has been a puppy-raiser and advocate for CCI, was one of several North Fork residents to recommend that the Behrs look into an assistance dog for Jared.

Canine Companions for Independence, founded in 1975, is the world’s largest non-profit provider of assistance dogs, which are given to the program’s participants completely free of charge. Headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, the organization operates six regional training facilities around the country. Its northeast region facility is located on an 11-acre campus in Medford.

There, dogs bred at a CCI breeding facility and raised by trained puppy-raisers until 14-16 months old, attend a six- to nine-month training course with professional instructors. Dog recipients attend two-week training courses at the training center. Together they attend a graduation ceremony in which the puppy-raiser passes the leash to the graduate and the graduate officially receives the assistance dog. Read about the process and see photos here.

“We’re very happy that Heidi’s Helping Angels is making a donation to CCI,” Behr said. “I’m glad to see them take up such good causes in our daughter’s memory. We’re very proud to be a part of that.”

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Denise Civiletti
Denise is a veteran local reporter and editor, an attorney and former Riverhead Town councilwoman. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a “writer of the year” award from the N.Y. Press Association in 2015. She is a founder, owner and co-publisher of this website.