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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: May 03 2015,6:52 pm |
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Several years ago our E R John Stone designated the fifth Wednesday of the month as Fun Night or Open Meeting Night at the Orange Elks Lodge and that’s just what we have been doing sever since! We have done Beard Shaving, Human Horse Racing, Pine Wood Derby Races to name few of the programs. This night E R Stephanie Fitzpatrick picked “Gone to the Dogs” as the theme. We started with a hot dog dinner, had a visit from Bosco, the Orange PD K9, and service dogs Hark, Brody and Indy.
The Fun Night Dinner was Hot Dogs, French Fries, Ranch Style Beans, Chili & Cheese for those Dogs, with all the fixings!
Lodge member Mike Cash introduced the program that started with K-9 Officer, Ryan Johnson and his dog Bosco. In April, Bosco who had just been drug certified helped in a big drug bust and helped capture a bad guy who did not want to surrender peacefully. Over the years, the lodge has raised over $21,000 to purchase four police dogs.
Orange Police Department K 9 Officer Ryan Johnson, Bosco and Mylee Miladinovich
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: May 03 2015,6:53 pm |
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Next on the program was Tom Tackett who explained the difference between therapy dogs and service dogs. Tom got interested in service dogs in 2004 when his daughter, Erinn was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. The continuous Dr’s visits were beginning to wear on her and she asked if the Labrador that was living with her could be trained to go with her for her visits. Of course and it helped calm her and relax her so much it was pretty amazing to me how he would “break the ice” with others and the entire room would relax and enjoy having him there. So, the light came on and he started training dogs to “Assist” others and Tom can be found at Tackett Service Dogs. The last three years, Tom has provided therapy dogs to interact with the children at our annual Eli House Thanksgiving Dinner Program. He then showed a short documentary on the service dog.
Tom
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| Post Number: 3
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: May 03 2015,6:54 pm |
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Tom's Service Dog Hark
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| Post Number: 4
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: May 03 2015,6:55 pm |
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Next Milan Franklin & his dog Brody showed how Brody helps him with his daily routine.
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: May 03 2015,6:56 pm |
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Del Hart puts Indy through some training skills that Indy will use as a PTSD Service Dog.
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| Post Number: 6
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Bill Neessen
Elk of the Year, POY, Public Relations Chairman
Posts: 2619
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Posted on: May 03 2015,6:57 pm |
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Brody and Indy are Fox Red Labradors.
To help cover the cost of training these dogs, Tom formed a foundation. The Patriotic Service Dog Foundation (http://patrioticservicedogfoundation.org) was created for the purpose of supporting and training assistance dogs to be placed with children and adults who have physical or emotional disabilities or other special needs, including retired or active duty service men and women of the United States Military Forces who suffer with trauma related injuries and helps them obtain greater confidence and independence. The Foundation also offers education and community outreach to increase public awareness about service dogs in general. The lodge is a supporter of the foundation and has donated over $3,000 to support their efforts.
Our lodge members enjoyed the program.
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