Vets Helping Heroes, Inc., is a Florida not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation which was incorporated on October 24, 2007.
We provide many different types of SERVICE Dogs to our Veterans:
We have provided Guide Dogs for the Blind. The cost of a Guide Dog is $60,000.00 each. It can take more than two years to train one of these dogs to perform all of the tasks necessary to serve as the eyes for a Veteran who has lost his or her sight. Only 40% of the dogs that start out being trained as Guide Dogs for the Blind actually make it all the way through the training and serve in that capacity. The training and screening is THAT rigorous.
We have provided Service Dogs for Vets with visible injuries, such as traumatic amputations, burns, shrapnel injuries, and other badges of their sacrifices for our Country. These dogs cost $20,000.00 - $25,000.00 each. These dogs take more than a year to train. In the case of some specialized injuries, it can take nearly two years.
We have provided Service Dogs for Vets with the “invisible injuries” of Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injuries (PTSD/TBI). These invisible injuries affect Veterans from all wars, but have become the hallmark of our wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Again, these dogs cost $20,000.00 - $25,000.00 each, and take an average of eighteen months to train.
We also provide Facility Therapy Dogs. These dogs help Veterans who are in hospitals. These dogs work at the facilities such as: The Palm Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center, Joint Base Andrews and Camp Lejune for example. The cost of these Facility Therapy Dogs is 10,000.00-$15,000.00 each.
To Save Only One (1) life of the 22 Suicides per day
You have heard the terrible figures from us, from the press, and from other organizations serving our Veterans: We are losing over 22 Veterans each day to suicide. We know that properly-trained Guide Dogs and Service Dogs can and do save Veterans having suicidal thoughts as a result of the depression from Blindness, PTSD and TBI. We have seen it first-hand.
For instance, if VETS HELPING HEROES HELPS only ONE of those 22 per day each year, (that would be 365 properly-trained, Certified Guide Dogs and Service Dogs) we would need an average of $14,600,000.00 per year to cover the cost. That total covers only one (1) Veteran per day, per year, suffering from either Blindness, PTSD, or TBI.