For the second year in a row, Twin Cities Elks Lodge #2747 donated $2,500 from their Elks National Foundation Gratitude Grant to Healing Paws for Warriors, a local nonprofit organization based in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., that provides American Disabilities Act-certified canines to veterans. Mike Arena, co-founder and executive director, says, “We are devoted to helping our veterans and the pet overpopulation problem. Once a veteran is accepted into our program, they will be paired with a dog adopted from a local shelter. They will live together from that point forward.” Depending on the individual needs of the applicant, they train them with a certified service dog. A certified service dog is allowed, by law, to enter public places such as the veteran’s workplace, restaurants, buses, stores, etc. These are rights set forth in the ADA. “When a veteran and their dog are close to graduation, they will be asked to mentor incoming trainees to help them transition into our program,” said Arena. “We feel this is very beneficial to both the new trainee and experienced veteran. Once the dog is fully trained in the individual tasks, it will be certified as a service dog.”
Arena served more than 23 years as an Air Force medic. After numerous deployments, he was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). After his diagnoses and subsequent retirement, he heard of a program that paired service dogs with veterans. Shortly after graduating from the program, he regained his smile and received a new K9 partner, Orion. He now provides executive management and service dogs at no cost to combat-injured veterans for the non-profit organization. “As a program,” he added, “we continue to grow our veteran-founded, veteran-led rescue-to-trained ADA-certified service dog program for those faced with PTSD, TBI or military sexual trauma. Each of our dogs cost approximately $25,000 to rescue, house, medically care for, feed and train.”
Healing Paws for Warriors relies solely on the support of the community such as that provided by Elks. More information about the non-profit organization is available at healingpawsforwarriors.org.
Twin Cities Lodge Exalted Ruler, Rick Woelfl, and House Committee chairman, Kathy Casey, present a $2,500 check to Mike Arena, co-founder and executive director of Healing Paws for Warriors.