Our Partnership with PETS2VETS

In the summer of 2009, PETS2VETS founder and president Dave Sharpe approached the Washington Animal Rescue League to discuss the PETS2VETS’ mission, in which combat veterans recovering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at local military medical facilities would come to work with and adopt pets.  The League, a neighbor to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, was a natural fit for the organization’s inaugural shelter partnership.  Since that first brainstorming session, the joint efforts of PETS2VETS and the League have created tremendous growth and opportunity for veterans and for sheltered animals.

In fact, the program has become more immediately successful than either partner had anticipated, and the demand among recovering veterans has kept both organizations busy.  As the veterans point out, medications help in recovery from PTSD, but they are not the whole solution; animals can do what drugs cannot by playing an active therapeutic role in a veteran’s recovery, offering the sort of non-judgmental love and unconditional support that the mending combat heroes need.

As the flagship shelter in this program, the League waives all of the new PETS2VETS adopters’ fees for adoption, training classes, and initial veterinary appointments.  And of course, the veterans receive life-long support from the shelter.  On their end, PETS2VETS arranges the transportation from the military installations and facilitates the liaisons at the shelter.  Once the veterans are discharged and return home, PETS2VETS transports their newly adopted companions to them.

According to League CEO Dr. Gary Weitzman, the program is a mutually beneficial one. “We provide veterans with a companion for healing, but they in turn give our animals what they need most in the world: a home where they will be appreciated for who they are and finally receive the love they so deserve. Many of our animals are recovering from traumas themselves, and this wonderful relationship benefits everyone—our animals and our nation’s heroes.”

http://www.pets2vets.org

PETS2VETS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operating in cooperation with the Washington Animal Rescue League.