Barney’s Run to provide service dogs to veterans raises enough for two canines

ALBANY — A run to fund service dogs for military veterans raised enough to pay for two new companion animals this year.

The Barney’s Run for Warriors, an effort in Southwest Georgia to get service dogs that help military veterans with PTSD or brain injury cope, was held at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany over the weekend.

Dr. Lois Hunkele with Westover Animal Hospital, the chair of the event, said there were about 120 participants in the 10K, 5K and one-mile events on Saturday. While the tally had not been finalized as of Monday afternoon, Hunkele said the event raised approximately $25,000.

“(The event) went wonderful,” she said. “We are very grateful for that.”

Hunkele said coordinators had only expected to be able to get one dog. All the other dogs were accounted for, which means that a veteran from Marietta will be getting a dog this year while the remainder will go, organizers hope, toward getting an Albany area dog next year.

“When (people) donate the money, it goes straight to K9s for Warriors,” the event chair said. “We were working toward one dog. We didn’t realize we’d get two. By the time we realized that, all (the other canines) were spoken for.”

The focus is primarily for post-9/11 veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or a brain injury. The goal of K9s for Warriors, based out of Ponte Vedra, Fla., is to give those veterans an improved quality of life, particularly when those experiences come back to haunt them in a way that hampers their ability to participate in public activities. The dogs serve as partners that have proven to have positive calming and reassuring impact on the veterans who receive them.

“It is a very worthy cause … these service dogs will help these veterans,” Hunkele said. “They serve as a 24-hour walking presence for these veterans.”

Hunkele said coordinators are already looking at plans for next year. The hope will be to again raise enough money for two dogs, she said.

“K9 for Warriors is about to expand, so we may get (to serve) other veterans as well,” she said.

The run was sponsored by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and the Deerfield-Windsor School cross-country team.

To learn more about the organization, visit www.k9sforwarriors.org.