Philanthropist Donates 170 Dogs to Veterans

"Dog Bless You" Philanthropist Donates 170 Dogs to Veterans
After adopting a Golden Retriever, Charlie Annenberg Weingarten founded the nonprofit.

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When Charlie Annenberg Weingarten met Lucky, an abandoned Golden Retriever in 2001, it was love at first sight. Lucky went everywhere with Weingarten and inspired him to do more to strengthen dog and human connections through philanthropy.

In 2010, Weingarten created a nonprofit organization called Dog Bless You, a Facebook page that has more than 510,000 fans. Weingarten named the organization “Dog Bless You” because several years earlier Lucky had befriended a homeless man in San Francisco. As they were leaving, the man said, "Dog bless you."

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Dog Bless You pairs up service dogs with military veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder. As a result, 170 guide dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and service dogs have been donated to veterans during the past three years, reports the Associated Press.

Service dogs cost between $2,000 and $50,000 each, depending on how much training they need. According to the article, Weingarten plans to accelerate the program because there are waiting lists at every training school. Experts say thousands of veterans would benefit from a dog.

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