Two Local Non-Profits Join Forces to Help Veterans!

GILROY, Calif. - Feb. 2, 2017 - PRLog -- Beginning this year, Angel Flight West and Operation Freedom Paws (OFP) are joining forces to help veterans. Angel Flight West will be fulfilling their mission by helping veterans with a medical need for a service dog travel to San Martin, California to train with OFP. Operation Freedom Paws requires that clients commit to service dog team training that includes over 300 hours of onsite, instructor-led classes. Veterans who apply, but live too far away to drive to San Martin twice a week, usually cannot make this significant commitment. Those who do typically spend over a year accumulating the required hours of training. Mary Cortani, OFP's founder, says, "Being able to partner with Angel Flight West will allow us to assist more clients who are not local. This will reduce travel stress, which in turn negatively impacts their medical conditions. We are so happy to be working with such a caring and compassionate organization--- the staff and clients are amazing!"
Angel Flight West Executive Director, John Olsen says, "We're thrilled to partner with Operation Freedom Paws to deliver health and hope to veterans in need using donated flights by private pilots to allow access to life-changing service dogs."  Through this partnership Angel Flight West is able to increase the number of veterans they help throughout the year and allows OFP the ability to do the same. Now OFP clients who live long distances from San Martin can arrange through Angel Flight West to follow through on their commitments to attend training.

About Angel Flight West

Angel Flight West, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit, delivers health and hope using donated flights to serve people with healthcare or other compelling human needs.  Angel Flight West links volunteer pilots and commercial airlines with people who require air travel to access non-emergency care and other essential services.
In most cases, the need is medical, but other circumstances are also considered. AFW is often the link that enables a patient to get to a treatment or diagnosis that would otherwise be inaccessible because of financial, medical or logistical considerations.
To learn more about our program and services, visit our website www.angelflightwest.org or call 1-888-4-AN-ANGEL (888-426-2643).

About Operation Freedom Paws

Operation Freedom Paws, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit, empowers veterans, adults and children with disabilities to live a quality life by teaching them to train their own dogs, and certifying them as service dog teams. The dogs, usually from rescue organizations or shelters, are carefully evaluated. Each is then matched to a specific client's physical and psychological needs. There is no charge--all we ask is a commitment to
complete the 48-week training program. OFP's funding is provided by fundraising events, individual donations, grants from private foundations and their commercial kennel services (i.e. dog daycare and boarding).
To learn more about our program and services, visit our website www.operationfreedompaws.org or call 1-408-683-9010. For a tour of the center please schedule an appointment with Deb Blanchard, Kennel Director.