Our San Diego facility is now officially “one year new!”  The grand opening was a memorable event and one that helped Paws for Purple Hearts grow its life-changing operations significantly in support of injured Warriors in Southern California. Since last April our San Diego team has not slowed down one bit in growing programs and providing services. The new facility allowed us to raise more service dogs in training right here in San Diego. From little puppies to mature adult dogs, we have welcomed our four-legged colleagues into the facility to care for them and train them to become top-notch assistance dogs. From the agility yard to the household simulation room, our dogs have benefitted from the many features of our state-of-the-art facility.  A few of our dogs; Delta, George and Drew, have been with us for the entire year since our grand opening last year. They have really developed and grown into high-quality dogs ready to partner up with Warriors and begin a new life of service. They have brought so much joy to us and our many guests and visitors.

This last year we have grown our Canine Assisted Warrior Therapy® programs and participants by leaps and bounds thanks in large part to the more consistent daily and weekly schedule the facility provided.  Our partners at the San Diego VA have been there with us standing shoulder to shoulder as we have built and grown our therapy programs.  Now we are preparing to move some of our therapy sessions from the VA’s campus to our facility so we can take advantage of our optimized environment. We also have a great therapy program at the Long Beach VA. Some Warrior participants there have been with us for over a year now!  At Camp Pendleton we are continuing to provide our active duty Marine Warriors our leading edge therapy.  We look forward to continued expansion there.

Since our facility opening, we have been able to grow our volunteer participation as well.   With the building and large number of dogs around, there are more activities and opportunities than ever before for folks who want to give of their time to lend a hand and help us accomplish our mission.  The dog interaction and enrichment has been great for our volunteers. Our volunteers have also been helping in the areas that are not as attractive, but still very important. They have helped clean the facility, do repairs and assist during community events. Our volunteers have gone above and beyond!  They have built training and play structures for our dogs, cleaned our windows, and even help assemble our dog runs.  And we can’t forget all they do outside of the facility by simply just mentioning our organization to their friends and family. Volunteers mean so much to us and we are happy to provide a positive experience for them, as they do so much for us!

This first year at the facility has been great, we look forward to what the future holds!

Thank you to the Warriors, Donors, and Volunteers who have helped in the development of our wonderful facility. If you’re interested in helping us, please consider donating and/or volunteering!