The Planet Dog Foundation Awards $25,000 in Grants to Help More Service Dogs Help More People in Need
Portland, ME – The Planet Dog Foundation (PDF), Planet Dog’s non-profit grant-making organization, is celebrating the new year by giving away $25,000 in grants to five non-profit canine service organizations across the country. The recipients are: All Breed Canine Search and Rescue (ABCSAR); Assistance Dogs of America, Incorporated (ADAI); East Coast Assistance Dogs (ECAD); Paws for Friendship and the Sherman Health Foundation.
Planet Dog, the socially responsible pet industry leader, is proud to donate 2% of every purchase to the Planet Dog Foundation to help support exemplary canine service programs nationwide. Since January 2006, PDF has given away almost $1,000,000 in cash grants and in-kind product donations to enable more dogs help children and adults in need.
“There is an incredible need for more service dogs and we are overwhelmed by funding requests from canine service organizations across the country,” says Kristen Smith, the Executive Director of the Planet Dog Foundation. “Service dogs help people in so many amazing ways and we are proud to lend a paw to support their efforts,” adds Smith.
All Breed Canine Search and Rescue (ABCSAR), of Silverdale, WA, is the canine division of the Washington Explorer Search and Rescue Program. They focus on positive reinforcement training for their dogs and handlers, and participate in 30 searches each year. The PDF grant will support the annual “Dog Meet” Search and Rescue Training Conference, which brings 150 SAR handlers and dogs in from all over the Northwest (WA, OR, ID, MT) and Canada. Three international experts will provide the volunteer teams with advanced training. http://www.kitsapesar.com
Assistance Dogs of America, Incorporated (ADAI) of Swanton, OH, helps children and adults with disabilities achieve greater independence by training and placing 20 service and therapy dogs a year. They have specialized in providing dogs for U.S. Veterans injured during service and the PDF grant will help them expand the program. Puppies are trained by volunteer puppy raisers or inmates in their prison program before going to the ADAI training facility for final training. The training process takes approximately two years and dogs that do not make it as service dogs are adopted by families through their “Fabulous Flunkies” program. http://www.adai.org
East Coast Assistance Dogs (ECAD), of Torrington, CT, breeds and trains Service Dogs that enable people with disabilities to become more mobile and independent. ECADemy is a program that educates troubled and at-risk youth on 5 residential campuses in New York to train Service Dogs. ECAD places 25-30 dogs each year, while also providing intensive outreach to at-risk youth and offering a volunteer program for youth in the community. Dogs are placed with people living with a variety of disabilities throughout the United States and even one in Japan. ECAD’s Project HEAL program provides wounded veterans who suffer physical and/or psychiatric disabilities with Service Dogs. The PDF grant will specifically support medical costs, training of the dogs and transportation for the youth in the program. http://www.ecad1.org
Paws for Friendship’s Florida Chapter, of Tampa, FL, is an international therapy pet/visitation program at nursing homes, schools, hospitals, juvenile detention facilities, homeless shelters and other facilities as needed. The Florida Chapter visits 37 facilities regularly. The program utilizes all volunteers and their pets – 121 people and 114 dogs. The PDF grant will fund the purchase of a storage and transportation trailer for their “Friendship Train” which goes to public outreach events throughout the area. http://www.pawsforfriendshipinc.org
Sherman Health, of Elgin, IL, has an Animal Assisted Therapy Program at the hospital that currently has 16 active teams, all trained and certified. Each team visits the same unit repeatedly for continuity for the staff. The program partners with a local Animal Hospital to provide volunteers wellness visits and updated shots. The PDF grant will help expand the program to the Oncology Unit. http://www.shermanhealthfoundation.com
Since incorporating in 1997, Planet Dog has been known as the industry’s leading socially responsible, values-based design house, bringing people and dogs together for fun and mutual support. The flagship initiative of the company and the heart and soul of all of Planet Dog’s business is the charitable arm of the company, the Planet Dog Foundation (PDF), established in 2006.
PDF is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 grant-making organization that provides cash grants to programs that train, place and support service dogs helping people in need. PDF supports service dog programs, therapy dog programs that work in a range of residential and therapeutic programs, police, fire and military dogs, animal assisted therapy in academic, prison and medical facilities, K-9 search and rescue programs, medical alert dogs and other innovative programs that harness a dog’s extraordinary scent capability and loyalty to help children and adults in need.
PDF is funded primarily by the sales of Planet Dog products, and through sales at the Planet Dog Company Store located in Portland, Maine. Planet Dog is the corporate partner of the Foundation, contributing 2% of every sale to PDF, while also covering overhead and administrative costs.
Planet Dog also sells the Orbee-TuffÒ Glow for Good Ball. 100% of the proceeds from the Glow for Good Ball, made from Planet Dog’s award-winning Orbee-Tuff, go directly to the grantmaking budget.
“The Glow for Good Ball was inspired by working dogs everywhere,” says Volo. “It was designed to spread the message of the Planet Dog Foundation in the community, and to encourage others to ‘act’ on behalf of these wonderful partners who enhance and save human lives,” adds Volo.
Through PDF, Planet Dog also donates a substantial amount of first quality products to numerous non-profits all over the country which serve as items for silent auctions, and raffle prizes for fundraisers. In addition to gift baskets and auction items, Planet Dog donates overstock or discontinued products to canine programs throughout the country, providing much needed collars, leashes and toys to non-profits on tight budgets. For more information and a full list of programs and grantees, please visit www.planetdogfoundation.org.
