Saint Francis Service Dogs Summer 2024 Newsletter

A message from Cabell

our executive director

The puppy was only a few weeks old. The surgery was expensive and the outcome unsure. The cost-benefit analysis and practical business decision was clear – put the puppy down. There was an entire litter left to move through the program. We were advised to cut our losses. You know this story. We did the surgery. Lion is now a Saint Francis Service Dog working in Blacksburg. Yes, it was expensive. Yes, the outcome was touch and go, and for a long time, we were unsure he could be placed. Luckily, it worked out, but it could have just as easily gone the other way. After a big investment, Lion could have died in surgery, or ended up unable to be a service dog. We would make the same decision anyway. Why? Because one of the many things that makes Saint Francis different is that when a dog is in our care, we commit to their future, whether that means they are a service dog or not. The same is true of the people we serve – we commit to their future. Whatever their goals, we will help them rise to the challenge. We are not just there for the heady times of matching, team training, and graduation. We are there for the lifetime of the partnership. If one of our partners needs help with a new challenge for their dog, we are there. If a physical condition worsens, requiring a dog to use new tasks, we are there. If it is time for a successor dog to carry the load, we are there. We are in it for the long haul.

That commitment to our teams reaches out to the places in which our teams live. We want the people we serve to be able to engage fully in the lives of their communities. We work hard to ensure our teams have full public access wherever they want to go. We are active in Assistance Dogs International, maintaining our accredited status for over 15 years. But we don’t stop there. We mentor other organizations to help them on the road to accreditation themselves. We sit on the Accreditation Review Committee and serve as an Accreditation Assessor, evaluating and helping other non-profit assistance dog organizations to become and stay accredited by maintaining consistently high standards and ethical behavior. So, yes, you can depend on us to take good care of our dogs, take good care of our people, and to nurture the environment in which we live to make it better for people with disabilities. We are proud of our guiding principles. They steer us on our journey to change the world for people with disabilities, one dog, one person, one family, one community at a time. We couldn’t do it without you. Thank you for joining us, and for believing in us to do the right thing, even when it’s not the easiest or the least expensive choice.

“Our guiding principles steer us on our journey to change the world for people with disabilities.”

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