Schools
Kids Offer Their 1-Cents Worth to Give Vet with PTSD New Service Dog
After an area Marine and combat veteran lost his service dog, Liberty, to cancer, Rochester Hills elementary students vowed to help him with their spare change and a schoolwide effort. Last week, they presented him with a $4,500 check.
One penny at a time, a group of Michigan elementary students have helped an Iraq war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome obtain a new service dog.
Students at Musson Elementary School in Rochester Hills raised $4,500 in a schoolwide penny drive to collect money for U.S. Marine an combat veteran Eric Calley, whose first service dog, Liberty, died of cancer The Oakland Press reports.
Calley attended Thursday’s “Musson Salutes a Hero” assembly with his wife, Mindy, and son, Gage, before leaving for Florida, where Sun, his new service dog, is being trained by the Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs. Inc. group.
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“I’m humbled that the elementary school raised that much money to help me with my issues,” Calley said at the assembly. “Many times our service men and women are going into harm’s way and when we come back things aren’t always the same. And service dogs, they do something that’s so great for our veterans and service men and women.”
Calley’s PTSD symptoms include anger, flashbacks, stress and anxiety. He also recently lost a friend in a veteran who committed suicide in May, and Sun, a Doberman, will help him through some of those issues, the newspaper said.
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“I’m not only humbled to see the true patriotism that this school has shown raising that much money and put forth, but it shows that America still cares,” he said. “When I get on my downtimes, I have Musson Elementary School to think about and all these people who cared about me enough to raise that money.”
The Williston, FL-based Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs group provided Calley with a new service dog at no cost, but it costs about $25,000 to train a dog, said Jolanthe Bassett of Rochester Hills, who organized the “Liberty’s Legacy” fundraiser to provide a replacement service dog for the Lansing veteran after Liberty died in February.
The donations – raised through contribution jars at local businesses and special in-school drive in which students brought in their loose change – came from many corners of the community, Bassett said.
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