GUARDIAN ANGELS MEDICAL SERVICE DOGS INC

Our aim is to provide a minimum of 50 veterans in each fiscal year with individually trained medical service dogs. We've heard the statistic - 20-22 veterans a day are taking their own life from complications of PTS and Traumatic Brain Injury. Our goal is to create one suicide-free day in our veteran population. The current drugs and therapies are not always enough. Approximately 90% of our dogs are paired with veterans with PTS and other combat injuries.
It is our goal to significantly increase the number of dogs we pair each year. As we grow our donations, staff and volunteer base, we continue to increase our pairings . Our long-term goal is to be able to pair an individually-trained, federally protected medical service dog to every veteran and civilian who believes they can and will benefit from the healing power a service dog can provide.

In order to accomplish our goals, we have created new programs where we can assist people to train their own dog or a dog we are pairing them with rather than waiting for a fully trained dog. Our P.E.T.S. Program (Pets, Evaluated and Trained for Service), has allowed us to pair more dogs with deserving recipients. We still fully train dogs for those that are physically or mentally unable to participate in the dog's training, but with the new program, it allows us more training time to complete the fully trained dogs at a quicker and more efficient pace. We have also opened four satellite locations to make it easier for someone with a disability to travel to for assistance and training; plus created Foster Training Family programs in three of these areas to further the house training and public access hours necessary for each dog. In 2019, we added another program that is experiencing remarkable success. We have partnered with SCI Mercer, a veteran-only prison to offer their inmates an opportunity to participate in foster-trainng these incredible dogs. Through this amazing program, we are finding that not only are we able to simultaneously train more dogs for those in need, but SCI Mercer inmates are learning a new trade to employ, while re-connecting by giving back to their fellow veterans.

First and foremost, we have an active board of unpaid directors that each oversees a specific part of our organization. They recruit volunteers as needed for each of their projects and contribute many hands on hours to all of our events and programs. Since income and volunteer hours are always determining factors as to how quickly we can pair more dogs, we have also contracted a full time grant writer so there are specific hours dedicated to this vital area. We are regularly involved in multiple fundraising events that are held for our organization annually and we plan several annual fundraisers as well. We have created many new relationships and partnerships in our quest to achieve our goals and continue to open more doors through our speaking engagements and presentations. We have partnered with a very successful prison program that will be fostering and assisting in the training of about 40 dogs a year. We have developed partnerships with a Humane Society in one of our other locations that graciously allows us to use their training room for weekly classes and we have and another with the Tampa Parks & Recreation facility to do the same type of weekly training. We are actively working to expand our reach to veterans, recruiting volunteer Regional Coordinators in Michigan, Pennsylvania, California and Connecticut and working on other states as well. We continue to make amazing new relationships and partners each year that become passionately involved with supporting our organization.

We are proud that we have continued to increase our annual income while keeping the majority of funds applied directly to our program costs. We are also proud that we have been able to pair more dogs each year with deserving veterans and individuals.
We realize that in order to reach our long term goals of pairing more disabled individuals with our dogs, that it is going to take money. Insurance doesn't cover the work we do, so we must find more creative avenues to raise the necessary funds for the dogs we donate. We are developing our donor base in other cities; bringing our program to them by holding fundraisers, involving the community as volunteers and foster families, assisting the disabled in their communities and also making available to them some simple ways to do their own fundraising with our assistance.

We have learned that in order to thrive in our non profit industry, we must constantly be creative and think outside the box. We have already taken the necessary steps to become very public in our effort to raise awareness through media. While we have continually moved forward successfully with a positive bottom line and increased pairings, we realize that the steps we have utilized in the past years are not enough to get to the level we aspire to achieve.

We are actively seeking out private foundation grant opportunities, increasing our base of donors and fundraisers, as well as increasing our presence on social media platforms, and at events relevant to our cause.