Abbey Hartman cried for two days after being separated from her puppy Nestle. These tears, however, turned into tears of joy soon when she reminded herself that Nestle would help a visually impaired person take control of his or her life. “I can imagine how hard it will be with Nestle,” Hartman said. “But there is nothing but pride in my heart.” Hartman, a Rutgers Business School junior, is the treasurer of the Rutgers University Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club. The organization trains puppies to be Seeing Eye dogs for the visually and physically impaired.

Nancy Haws has been bringing her 22-year-old son, Taylor, to “Special Friends Day” for 12 years. He doesn’t have many close friends, but this event gives him a way to make new ones and establish connections. “Special Friends Day,” a day joining Rutgers students and special needs children for a breadth of activities, had an uncertain future when the University’s Recreation Activities Crew disbanded last year…”Special Friends Day” took place in the Cook Douglass Recreation Center yesterday. An arc of balloons bearing Rutgers colors greeted special needs children and their parents.