Listen: Andrea McCarren, President of the PenFed Foundation.
Urgent Help Is Needed: The Current Waitlist for Service Dogs Is up to Two Years, Too Long for Many Veterans and Others with a Disability
While it may seem impossible to raise a puppy to become a service dog and then give it up, the payoff may be worth any heartache. Veterans and people with disabilities need service dogs who are individually trained to perform tasks. Dogs can do everything from turning on light switches and closing doors to picking up keys, a credit card or even a cell phone off the ground.
The PenFed Foundation, a nonprofit organization for veterans, is working to demystify puppy raising and share opportunities for co-workers to raise service dogs together. Service dogs are socialized wherever a veteran might go and always join their puppy raisers at the office. Businesses who offer this opportunity say the service dogs boost team morale and relieve stress.
Andrea McCarren is the President of the PenFed Foundation. She is a nationally recognized advocate for veterans and military families. Before joining PenFed, Andrea enjoyed a successful career in journalism. A former television news correspondent for ABC News and NBC News, her work has been recognized with 25 Emmy Awards and many other national and local honors. Andrea has covered the White House, Capitol Hill and the Pentagon, and local news in cities across the United States. She spent a year at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow. Andrea is a cum laude anthropology graduate of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York and the London School of Economics in England.