K9s for Warriors recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Chartrand Family Warrior Resource Center to be located at its main campus in Ponte Vedra.
The nonprofit, which provides service dogs to veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury and/or Military Sexual Trauma, plans to expand the facilities to add for more training and to better assists post 9/11 veterans.
“It will provide extra space to be able to bring in more veterans, simultaneous to classes we already run,” K9s for Warriors COO Jason Snodgrass said.
Snodgrass said the facility will allow veterans to have already partnered with a canine companion to return for additional training or to work with a new dog once their service dog retires.
“We won’t have to interrupt the process we have going on with new classes,” he said.
Snodgrass said the next step in the process is to get permits issued and then construction can begin.
According to K9s for Warriors, the additional facility will be home to a resource center, an American Service Dog Access Coalition, offices for the Association of Service Dog Providers for Military Veterans and a K9s for Warriors Research Institute.
The new resource center will allow the nonprofit to house and train and additional four veterans at a time. The organization is also increasing its dedication to prevent veteran suicides through the additional workspace for the research institute. K9s for Warriors has already partnered with Purdue University to study the effect of service dogs on veterans suffering from PTSD, and to encourage the VA to accept service dogs as a part of a healthcare plan for veterans suffering from PTSD, in the hopes of giving “all veterans access to service dogs if they choose.”
To date, K9s for Warriors has served almost 600 veterans, and the resource center is just another way to further the organization’s mission.
“Community support and that of existing donors and sponsors are critical to our mission of serving veterans,” Snodgrass said.
For more information on K9s for Warriors, go to www.k9sforwarriors.org.
