Canine Magic and Peppercom Work to Unlock the Potential in Children with Autism

Peppercom to provide pro bono public relations support

NEW YORK – July 25, 2006 – Canine Magic, a volunteer organization that raises, trains and places dogs to serve children with autism and their families, recently partnered with Peppercom for public relations activities. Peppercom will provide media relations, events and partnership support to help increase awareness and raise funds for the non-profit organization. Canine Magic’s focus is to support and fund the Autism Dogs program in the United States. Canine Magic works in collaboration with National Service Dogs (NSD), Canada and East Coast Assistance Dogs (ECAD), Conn. The program seeks to unlock the potential of children with autism through the unconditional love of a dog. “Peppercom is the perfect choice for Canine Magic due to its creative thinking, expertise in media relations and experience working with non-profit organizations,” said Sandeep Manchanda, founder of Canine Magic. “What better partner than an exceptional public relations agency named after a dog to work with us on this important fundraising initiative.” Canine Magic provides dogs at no cost to the family, and selection is based on annual funds and a series of screening questionnaires and interviews. Before being placed with a family, the dogs endure three phases of training: puppy, professional and final-stage. During the professional stage, trainers work with at-risk youth from Children’s Village, an organization for troubled children and their families, to train the dogs. “As experts in corporate social responsibility, we counsel our clients about the importance of giving back to the community,” said Steve Cody, managing partner and co-founder of Peppercom, a strategic communications firm. “Our work with pro bono initiatives such as Canine Magic demonstrates our own commitment to philanthropic causes. Canine Magic is a unique and moving organization that we are proud to be supporting.” About Canine Magic Canine Magic creates and sustains programs that transform human behavior through the unconditional love of a dog. Founded by Sandeep Manchanda and Pierrette Pillone in collaboration with National Service Dogs (NSD), Canada and East Coast Assistance Dogs (ECAD), Conn., its focus is to support and fund the Autism Dogs program to make it sustainable in the United States. The program trains dogs to be an emotional and physical anchor to a child with autism at no cost to the family.

www.caninemagic.org

About Peppercom Peppercom, Inc. is a strategic communications firm headquartered in New York, with offices in San Francisco, Chicago and London. Its business approach to strategic communications drives new opportunities for clients. In addition to innovative public relations, Peppercom offers PeppercomDigital(SM), which helps clients integrate emerging media tools with traditional communications programs. Peppercom is the recipient of the “Small Agency of the Year – 2006” award from PR Week and was named “Innovative Agency of the Year – 2006” by the Holmes Report. www.peppercom.com # # #