Shelter-To-Soldier Program

Graham Bloem the founder of Shelter to Soldier will be speaking about the work of the charity.  This is a CA 501c3 nonprofit organization that rescues dogs from an otherwise uncertain future in local shelters and trains them to become psychiatric service dogs for post-9/11 combat veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or other injuries associated with traumatic service experiences. Every day, 22 US veterans and 1 active duty service member are lost to suicide. That’s an average of one life lost every 63 minutes. The suicide rate among the nation’s military personnel has spiked this year, eclipsing the number of troops dying in battle and on pace to set a record annual high since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago. The links below are for an impact report, a video and the last link is to a page showing the body parts and how you can donate.

 http://www.sheltertosoldier.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Final-Web-Optimized-Impact-Report.pdf

At the meeting Rob Ridge and Mark Matthews will be selling “ dog body parts” to create a complete dog. The objective is to raise  $12,000 to donate a dog for a veteran, for which there is a desperate need in this area that has so many returning military personnel.