2024 Annual Report

A message from Cabell

Welcome to our 2024 Annual Report! You will see charts, graphs, and numbers throughout these pages. I hope that you will agree that we had a productive year, and we are continuing to deliver on the promise of empowering and transforming the lives of people with disabilities - one dog, one person, one family, one community at a time. An Annual Report reminds me of a yearly medical exam - here you can check our vital signs and measure our progress. I spend a fair amount of my time monitoring these numbers and making tweaks to be sure we stay on track. Sometimes what gets lost in the numbers is our most important vital sign: our staff. These are the people that are the beating heart of Saint Francis Service Dogs. We span six generations, from our 20’s to our 80’s. We come from all areas of the country - from Georgia to Minnesota - and from all walks of life. Some of us love the outdoors, and some of us crave the comforts of home. We have our own hobbies and passions, from astronomy to music, reading to hiking, bourbon to antique bicycles. Many of us have worked here for more years than we care to count. It would be fun to say we are a big happy family. That’s not quite true. We fight, we disagree, and we grumble. Some people hang out together. Some prefer not to. Some understand one another easily, some find each other inscrutable. That’s pretty normal. What is special are the things we have in common.

We are all curious. Everyone here is a natural learner, regardless of education level. We are all interested in the world and curious about how it works - whether it’s how to build something, how the night sky turns, or how to play a difficult piece of music. We are all willing to listen and take on new information. We are all committed. Everyone here has gone the extra mile and will do it again. We have all been asked to grow in order to better serve the mission, and we have all done the work to make that growth happen, painful as it usually is. We are all focused on quality. Everyone here believes in providing excellent, beautifully-trained, lovingly cared-for service dogs to people that need them. We believe in setting the teams up for the greatest success so they can reach their goals. Everyone here knows that the lives we enrich by doing this work enrich our own. So, when you peer behind the charts and graphs, you will find us - a band of mismatched people, bound together by what I believe are rare and precious gifts. When you add in our volunteers, our donors, our partners, and - of course - our dogs, you have something truly special. There is nothing quite like Saint Francis Service Dogs. Thank you for joining us on this journey. I can’t imagine better company for the trip.

Executive Director

We are all focused on quality. Everyone here believes in providing excellent, beautifully-trained, lovingly cared-for service dogs to people that need them.

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