The Golf event was great and we had an awesome time and it being for a great cause makes it even better. ( I really am not just saying that) I know my golf game does not show it but I have played in a few charity events and this was definitely organized and put together well.
I look forward to the next one!
Thankfully we had Kevin. Not only does he take care of me at work but he did on the fairway as well.
Keeping us out of the tree line made the day way more enjoyable. lol
Mr.Reilly and Team,
That was the best Charity golf event I have ever participated in. Class Act. Looking forward to next year.
Happy New Year all. Bravo.
Warrior Salute Supporters,
Happy New Year!! I wanted to take a quick moment and share
in the great news of the outcome of the Fall Warrior Salute Charity Golf
Tournament on Fri, October 14th 2016. We were able to raise and distribute more than $21,000 in charity proceeds to our sister charities: Young Marines, Hire Our Heroes and Paws4Vets! Please see the great news story and photos of the our wonderful event as you can see the smiles on many of our Veteran's and Warrior Golfer's faces as fun was had by all.
A special Thank You to all of our Volunteers including Team Iron Bow, Becky
with Taco Bird Embroidery, Robin Shotola Photography, Jeff Perry
aka: Margarita Man, FCN for the Blood Mary Bar, Whiskey Creek Golf Course Staff and all of our wonderful Sponsors!
Please mark your calendar and set aside some Marketing Funds
for our 2017 Fall Warrior Salute Charity Golf Tournament on Friday, October
13th and see you at our 5th Annual Event!
Here is link to WMAR/ABC-2 news story
Dear Mr. Reilly,
The paws4people Foundation and our paws4vets program want
to thank Warrior Salute, Inc. for inviting us to be a part of the 2015 Warrior
Salute Golf Tournament and for the $14,000 donation to paws4vets in December
2015 as a beneficiary of the tournament.
We are extremely grateful for the
support from Warrior Salute, Inc. which has helped to transform the lives of
veterans struggling after serving our country
The paws4people Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization (EIN: 54-19448479) founded in 1999 by Kyria Henry and her father,
Terry Henry, a veteran living with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (https://paws4people.org/).
The mission of paws4people is educating
and empowering people to utilize Assistance Dogs to transform their lives. paws4people accomplishes its mission through
breeding, training and placement of Assistance Dogs with two general
groups: (1) children and adolescents
with physical, neurological, psychiatric, or emotional disabilities; and (2)
Veterans and Active-Duty Service Members
with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Complex Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (C-PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), PTSD resulting from Sexual
Trauma (Military or Civilian) (MST/ST), Moral Injury, and other neurological, psychological,
and/or physical disabilities.
In 2008, paws4people launched its paws4vets program, which
is dedicated to training and placing customized Assistance Dogs with Veterans,
Active-Duty Service Members, and their families living with PTSD/C-PTSD, TBI, MST, Moral Injury, and other
neurological, psychological, and/or physical disabilities. The
paws4vets program
is unique and extremely effective because of its proprietary, comprehensive,
and customized transfer training process, the “Bump” process during which each
dog chooses his/her client forming a Client/Dog team, its volunteer medical
evaluation team (pMET) that corresponds with each client's care providers to
ensure continuity of care, its peer mentors and client advocates, and
requirement of annual re-certification testing to ensure continual quality of
placements. Terry Henry, innovator of the paws4vets program, was honored as an
Everyday Hero by ION TV for the impact that the paws4vets program is having in
the lives of veterans. See link to short
video highlighting the program: https://vimeo.com/155617960
Over the past 17 years, paws4people has placed customized
Assistance Dogs in 25 states and Canada.
It costs paws4people approximately $36,000 and takes 2 years to train
and place an Assistance Dog. Our
clients receive dogs at no cost.
However, after dogs are paired with clients, they are asked to
participate in a Pay-It-Forward (PIF) campaign with a goal of raising $10,000 by
voluntarily engaging in awareness or fundraising efforts on behalf of the
organization, helping those who will come after them and helping the
organization to continue to provide more Assistance Dogs for more people in need. Participating in the PIF campaign not only
results in clients more invested in receiving, utilizing and caring for their
Assistance Dogs, it also provides a mechanism whereby each client can engage in
activities outside his/her normal comfort levels, thus allowing him/her to get
involved in a process that is “bigger than themselves,” which can provide
therapeutic benefits in and of itself.
The demand for paws4people Assistance Dogs is great. Currently, for every 50 applications
received, we are able to serve one person requesting an Assistance Dog.
According to the National Center for PTSD, United States
Department of Veterans Affairs, PTSD occurs in 11-20 percent of Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans. In January 2014,
the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) issued a report finding
that the suicide rate for young male Veterans ages 18-29 increased
significantly – nearly 44% -- in recent years. In August 2016, the VA reported that 20 Veterans
die from suicide every day.
In addition, in a 2015 report on Military Sexual Trauma, the
VA found that 1 in 4 women using VA healthcare report having experienced MST
and the diagnosis most commonly associated with MST is PTSD. However, many victims of MST also experience
other diagnoses, such as depression, other mood disorders, and/or substance use
disorders. In July 2016, the VA
reported that, since 2001, the age-adjusted rate of suicide among U.S. female
veterans has increased by 85.2%.
Furthermore, like military veterans who have experienced combat-related
trauma, sexual assault survivors (military and civilian) are using service dogs
to mitigate symptoms of PTSD.
The mission of paws4vets is to provide healing and hope to
veterans and service members struggling with PTSD and other disabling conditions.
The $14,000 donation from Warrior
Salute, Inc. was used to support Intervention Transfer Training (ITT) in
Wilmington, NC for our paws4vets clients in 2016. During our monthly ITT sessions,
specially-trained paws4vets staff and student trainers, as well as peer mentors
who are paws4vets clients who successfully completed training and are working
full-time with their Assistance Dogs, work closely with each Dog/Client team to
ensure that each client knows how to use the Assistance Dog to meet his/her
needs. These sessions are customized for
each client and the number of sessions required varies by client based on
his/her unique needs. The clients come
to Wilmington for 3-day sessions with a minimum of three 3-day sessions mandated
for each client prior to receiving custody of their Assistance Dog. The Assistance Dog is not transferred to the
client until paws4people staff is assured that the Dog/Client team is
comfortable, safe, and working effectively together. Funding from Warrior Salute was used to
defray the cost of 4.66 ITT sessions for paws4vets clients from February-June
2016. It costs paws4people $3,000 per
3-day session. These 2016 ITT sessions
included 4 certified ITT instructors, 2 ITT instructors in-training, at least 2
peer mentors, at least 5 UNC-Wilmington student trainers, and 2 pMET members
(volunteer mental health care providers).
The funding from Warrior Salute enabled us to provide these critical ITT
sessions in 2016.
For 17 years, paws4people has used revolutionary protocols
for utilizing Assistance Dogs as adjunct therapeutic devices to enhance – not
replace – our clients’ other therapies and medical treatments. paws4people’s unique, customized approach
creates lasting placements and real improvements in each veteran’s and service
member’s life, and, in many cases, the
lives of their families. paws4people has
been called upon by the military to provide consultation and programming for
Assistance Dog use, which attests to the soundness and efficacy of
paws4people’s practices, methods and processes.
In addition, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America’s (IAVA’s)
Research Director, Dr. Jackie Maffucci, has stated that paws4people is the gold
standard in the service dog community. We
have a 92% success rate with our placements compared to the industry standard
of 48%. Our imperative right now is to
expand our programs and place more Assistance Dogs.
Warrior Salute is helping us to make a profound difference
in the lives of our veteran clients and their families. We greatly appreciate your continued support.
Very truly yours,
