By Christopher Manson
“When I started this company, my goal was to do more than fix plumbing and go home. I wanted to make an impact on the community,” says Tru Plumbing and Gas founder, owner, and CEO Cody Kearns.
“Thanks to the help of our customers, we’ve already supported A Bed 4 Me Foundation and Healing Paws for Warriors with over $3,000 in donations. Our goal with this charity initiative is to start a movement that ripples throughout the community.” September’s charity partner is Niceville-based CALM, with the E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center scheduled for October.
The Niceville business’ campaign is called Making Waves, and Kearns believes “we can make waves, one drop at a time. And we’re just getting started.”
In August, as a lead-in to National Service Dog Month in September, Tru Plumbing and Gas donated $1,690 to Healing Paws for Warriors to aid in their mission. The Fort Walton Beach 501(c)(3) nonprofit pairs trained rescue dogs with veterans who are living with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and/or military sexual trauma.
Tru Plumbing and Gas contributed $10 per completed service call to it’s the nonprofit to defray the cost of rescuing dogs, training, veterinary care, and dog food. “Our veterans sacrifice so much. Healing Paws for Warriors gives back to the brave ones who put their lives on the line,” says Kearns.
“I thought it would be a good partnership because they work with veterans and dogs. Everybody loves dogs,” says Tru Plumbing and Gas Marketing Manager Will Miller. “Our goal is to give back to the community and raise awareness for these charities. We select nonprofits we think are doing good work in the community. A Bed 4 Me was kind of a personal thing for the owner, because they help children. We have a couple veterans here in the office that factored into choosing Healing Paws for Warriors.”
Healing Paws for Warriors provides “Battle Buddies” classes to veterans, consisting of two weeks of academics in a classroom environment followed by four weeks of “public access and familiarity in places like Publix, Kohl’s, local restaurants, the Air Force Armament Museum, etcetera,” says Executive Director Dennis Krebs.
“We also accomplish specialized training in going through TSA at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport, hospital orientation training at Northwest Florida State College, and going to a movie theater. We take the veterans to places they can experience daily living – to allow them to not just to survive, but to thrive.”
The organization was founded in 2015 by a veteran and a group of supporters that understood the benefits a service dog could provide to veterans suffering from PTSD, MST, or TBI. “The idea of rescuing dogs and training them to become service dogs was a win-win situation,” says Krebs.
“We save the lives of our veterans and dogs that might otherwise have been euthanized.” Healing Paws for Warriors’ mantras are “Save a Veteran/Rescue a Dog” and “Saving Lives at Both Ends of the Leash.”
This fall, Healing Paws for Warriors will continue providing veteran outreach and obtaining applicants for upcoming classes, soliciting for volunteers and fosters, and raising funds to continue supporting the program. “We do not receive any federal of state assistance,” says Krebs, “and all of the training and equipment we utilize is provided at no cost to the veterans.”
Krebb adds that Tru Plumbing and Gas has “gone above and beyond to support our program, not just by donating, but by helping us solicit potential veteran candidates for our training program. Working with them has been an awesome experience.”
Find out more about Healing Paws for Warriors by calling 850.716.8198, emailing info@healingpawsforwarriors.org, or visiting healingpawsforwarriors.org.
Learn more about Tru Plumbing and Gas at truplumbingandgas.com, or call 850.610.3760.
Special thanks to Sam Hay for her contributions to this article.
