My son was an independent contractor for the U.S. Department of the Army. As a veteran police dog handler, he volunteered to serve our country with his expertise.
He served two tours in Iraq, and returned home with severe PTSD. When he returned, he was completely changed – there was no life left in him. In a desperate attempt to help him and other veterans, I started a nonprofit providing highly-trained service dogs to mitigate the horrible symptoms of PTSD.
I am now president and founder of K9s For Warriors, a Florida-based nonprofit that gives service dogs to disabled veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disability, traumatic brain injury and military sexual trauma as a result of the wars since 9/11. There is no charge for our service. We believe we are the largest and most successful program for the treatment of the effects of “after battle” disabilities.
As a nation, we are losing 22 veterans a day to suicide. The K9s For Warriors program is working and we are saving lives. We have now served 154 warriors and seen a 95% success rate. Actually, 100% when you consider that not one of our graduates have tried or committed suicide. We have also started a national campaign called Stop 22, to bring awareness to veteran suicide.
K9s For Warriors, in four short years, is now a large and successful three-week, live-in program for the treatment of PTSD, TBI, and MST. We are privately funded through generous donations and we accept no government assistance. Additionally, we use 95% rescue dogs in our program, saving their lives as well.
After a lifetime of volunteering, working (including managing my husband’s professional golf career), and now as a mother, and a grandmother, I have many skills and gifts to give back to others. At 65, I started my organization with no financial assistance, but with a vision, passion and determination. Today we are an $8-million organization. We were recently gifted a new $5-million facility to increase our capacity of five veterans a month to 16.
Age has its benefits. We have more time, years of experience and realize the need to give of ourselves to others. That is the best gift you can give.