Volunteers from Pets on Wheels, a Baltimore area nonprofit that provides therapy visits with pets, will be heading to Connecticut Friday to help those affected by the school shooting in Newtown. 

"The dogs are a great outlet for people and children, and we hope that they can bring them some comfort," said Barb Wasaieicz, a Pets on Wheels volunteer. 

The caravan of two vans and passenger cars will be leaving the Baltimore area and headed for Newtown at 3 a.m. Friday and will return the same day.

According to the group's website, Pets on Wheels was founded in 1982 by Dr. Frank Folke Furstenberg, a retired Sinai physician, to study the effect of animal visits on "shut-ins."

"Visits are most often to nursing homes; however, assisted living communities and facilities for the physically and mentally challenged are also recipients of our visits. Recently veterans’ hospitals, programs for the homeless and children at risk of home out placement have also been added to our visits," according to the group's website.