Volunteers help Paws for Purple Hearts accomplish our life-saving mission in a wide variety of important and fun ways.  Thanks to our wonderful volunteers, our team of highly-trained instructors can focus more deeply on refining the capabilities of our top-grade service dogs.  Volunteers also allow us to spend more time delivering our innovative and life-changing Canine Assisted Warrior Therapy^TM to more Veterans and active duty Service Members to help reduce their PTSD and TBI symptoms.

One of the most important volunteer roles at Paws for Purple Hearts is “puppy parenting.”  Puppy Parents provide loving and safe overnight and weekend foster homes for our service dogs in training.  These important Paws for Purple Hearts team members help expose our puppies to the world as well as provide them some relaxing down time during their nights and weekends off. Our Puppy Parents help us raise confident, adaptable, and friendly dogs that are ready to take on their crucial job as service dogs for wounded Warriors facing mobility impairment, PTSD and/or TBI.

Here in San Diego, we have several dedicated volunteer Puppy Parents. Their effort and time really make a difference, and are a key factor in making it possible for our dogs to succeed.  Volunteering as a Puppy Parent is also very rewarding and fun. Paws for Purple Hearts Puppy Parent, Dan Townsend, says it best:

Beyond fostering and taking care of our puppies and dogs, there are a number of extremely helpful, more generalized roles volunteers can fill to help us carry out our important mission. Cleaning, maintenance and administrative support are just a few examples.  One of our most prominent general volunteers in San Diego is Coletta Boone, who has a background in nonprofit leadership and fundraising. She helps plan and facilitate fundraising and awareness events, and has connected us with key local organizations and businesses to form mutually helpful partnerships. Coletta has made great strides in getting the word about Paws for Purple Hearts out into the community here in Southern California.  This has resulted in a surge of support for which we are very grateful.

We are so thankful for the effort and time our volunteers devote to our mission.  Paws for Purple Hearts would not be as successful without them.

With the grand opening of our San Diego facility just a few months away, the need for volunteers of all skills sets is increasing. If you are interested in volunteering to help us help our valued wounded Warriors, just click here.  To help make our grand opening and expansion throughout the Southwest region a success, please also consider a generous donation today.