Nonprofit Pairing Vets With Comfort Dogs Will Receive Federal Aid

A New Hampshire nonprofit that helps veterans dealing with mental health challenges will now receive federal funding.

Hero Pups in Exeter, which pairs veterans with comfort dogs, will now be getting federal CARES Act money, WCVB reports. The nonprofit has trained and paired 92 support or comfort dogs, mainly rescues, with veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress or other mental health challenges.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created more issues for veterans dealing with loneliness of isolation and Hero Pups has also suffered financially as the demand for support dogs has increased.

The organization Swim With a Mission will be giving Hero Pups $260,000 in federal CARES Act money, which will be used to pay for losses and pair an additional 26 comfort dogs to veterans.

“As long as we have veterans that are struggling with any of these mental health issues, we’re going to keep raising money,” said Phil Taub from Swim With a Mission via WCVB. “Nobody here gets a paycheck,” Founder of Hero Pups Laura Baker said. “There’s no administration. We have very little overhead so a grant like this goes directly to the care of the dogs and being able to provide the veterans the training necessary to work with their dogs.”

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