IRCF Awards Dogs for Life $25,000
According to Indian River Indicators, 11.2% of adults in Indian River County are veterans, compared to 8.2% of all adults in Florida. Dogs for Life is a non-profit organization devoted to improving the quality of life for veterans and other individuals in need through training hearing and service dogs, providing therapy dogs for first responders and school resource programs, and owning an off-leash dog park. IRCF recently awarded Dogs for Life $25,000 from the Community Enrichment Fund.
Dogs For Life (DFL) conducts a variety of service dog training programs to assist veterans and other individuals. The organization matches people with service dogs and provides training to those individuals to handle service dogs for their specific disability.
Service dogs are specially trained to assist their owners with challenges they face as a result of hearing deficits, balance and mobility issues, and psychiatric disabilities. PTSD tasks can include waking clients from a nightmare, turning lights on in a dark room, creating a distraction in a crowd, finding an exit to leave a stressful situation and providing a calming effect. Hearing dogs assist with a door knock, a ringing telephone, a smoke alarm, an alarm clock or other cues. Mobility Assistance Dogs are task trained to assist with issues such as rising from a chair, picking up a phone, and retrieving fallen objects.
The fastest growing need for assistance dogs in Florida is among the brave men and women who have served in the United States military or as First Responders.
Indian River Community Foundation’s discretionary grantmaking is aligned with a vision of a more healthy, prosperous, and generous Indian River County community. Grantmaking priorities are informed by the findings of the most recent community needs assessment and the most current data and information collected on Indian River Indicators.
IRCF is holding informational sessions for nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations serving Indian River County who are interested in applying for a competitive grant. If interested, please call 772.492.1407 or email Brooke Sauserman to reserve your spot. Please read our Guidelines before registering.