- [Narrator 1] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

(soft music) - [Narrator 2] This program is made possible by Tampa General Hospital, The Charity Registry, Nielsen, The Bank of Tampa, Florida Blue, Unite Us and the Bernard F. and Mary Anne Powell Foundation.

(instrumental music) For over 16 years, the Be More platform has recognized inspiring efforts made to meet community needs.

(instrumental music) Our region is home to hundreds of local heroes and amazing stories.

(instrumental music) Join WEDU as we go behind the scenes with the founders of three nonprofits dedicated to making a better world.

Come along and be more inspired.

First, we meet K9 Partners for Patriots where veterans and dogs team up to heal.

- I had a for-profit dog training business called Stillwater Dog Training, and I trained dogs for the public for obedience training and behavior issues.

Then I got a call from a professor at St. Leo that was working with veterans and she called me and asked me, did I think that I could help veterans with PTSD with a dog?

And I said, yes.

And she said, I have someone that I need to send to you.

And I sat and talked to him and told him what we could do.

And she called me the next day and asked me what I did because for the first time she'd heard hope.

And she said, you need to do this on a larger scale.

I had no plans to do that.

I just wanted to help veterans in our community, but I saw a tremendous need.

But we'll work through it, get 'em using their mind and that helps them settle down a little bit.

After I got to talk to most of 'em and ask them what was going on in their life, I found out that it was severe PTSD issues.

They couldn't get better in a civilian environment.

They had to be in a place where they were accepted as they were with others like them.

I knew if they had a job with the dog and a commitment that they had to make, that it would make things better for them and their family, because now they had something they could feel they could touch.

And they grew together the dog and the handler.

So I closed my business and I founded K9 Partners.

- So I was in the Marine Corps for eight years.

I really did enjoy my time in the service.

I was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder after going to Afghanistan three times, I was looking for a service dog.

So we dug a little deeper and we found K9 Partners for Patriots.

And then I met Miss Mary and it's been an amazing journey since.

And when we met Cato and it was instant bond, I could never imagine having a bond like that so quickly.

And now he doesn't leave my side.

He loves me and I love him and we're great together.

The way Cato reacts is he smells the adrenaline when I get anxious or say, I'm having a nightmare in the middle of the night or a flashback, he'll jump on me.

He'll lick my hand, he'll lick my face.

Just anything he could do to kind of snap me out of what I'm going through at the time.

- People ask us all the time, how do you pick a dog for a vet?

And we tell them we don't, the dog does.

We don't breed dogs.

People throw away dogs.

People send dogs to shelters.

My thought was, if we can help a veteran, how much better that we can save too and help a dog, pull a dog from a kill shelter, take a dog off the street.

Pull 'em from rescues that are overcrowded because they're trying to do the same thing.

The veteran feels like I'm getting a second chance at life.

But now that veteran is giving this dog a second chance at life.

When we bring in a rescue and they know that that dog was gonna be put down the day before, and that dog comes and gives an alert on them and crawls in their lap and they wrap their arms around that dog and they cry, you just look right there and you see the package.

You see two lives that are gonna be totally different from that point forward.

It's an amazing thing to get to watch.

- The process of training him, it was one I've never done before.

They teach us how to teach them.

So I'm not having someone else train my dog.

They actually give me the tools I need to train him.

And it creates an even stronger bond with the dog.

- It is a six month program.

We start with an eight week basic obedience training class so that they learn everything there is to learn about how to train their dog and how to get their dog to do what they ask of it.

Make a right turn, tell your dog to heal.

- Sit down, stay, stand front, post, focus.

- So that when they do start going out into public, when they get to the service side of training, they know they have confidence.

Now they know every step of the way, what they needed to do and how to do it.

And it gave them a sense of pride.

It just renewed everything in their life.

- You take them everywhere, you do everything with them.

You always listen to them.

Anything could happen and they pick it up right away.

You always, always have to pay attention to your dog and they always have to pay attention to you.

These dogs, they're extraordinary animals and they help with anything and everything that could potentially happen.

- I listened to them stating that they just had no purpose anymore.

They've been a sniper for 20 years.

They've done this for how many years that they were trained to go to war, but not trained how to come home.

- I do believe that veterans have problems seeking mental health.

My breaking point, when I decided I needed to go get help, it was causing a big strain on my relationship with my wife.

And seeking help, it's the best thing I could have ever done.

It's saved my marriage.

It's saved my life tenfold.

- My goal when I founded this organization was not only to help veterans train a dog, but so many of them had no support.

I wanted them to have a hug when they came in the door.

They've always been called by their last name and a number.

And I wanted them to know, we know your name.

We know your first name, we know your family.

And I wanted them to think of this as a safe place.

- During my time in the service, we were always taught don't say anything, keep it inside.

You don't need to say anything, you're weak.

It doesn't make you weak.

It doesn't make you less of a man, less of a woman.

It makes you stronger.

Just to know that you're a human, humans have feelings and everybody needs help.

Everybody needs help at some point or another, and it's okay to seek help.

- I tell them, I am so proud of you at their interviews.

I am so proud of you because the hardest step you took was walking through the door.

And you're met with a hug.

You're met with everybody that says, what can we do?

How can we help you?

There's no branch of the military in here.

There's no rank in here.

Everybody's here because they wanted to get better.

And they're doing it in a unit, just like in the military.

We're giving 'em comradery again, a place of new friends.

And a lot of them are going fishing with each other now.

They're inviting each other to their homes and cookouts.

And that's what we want for 'em is to give them an extended family.

We're up to almost 600 veterans now, but every one of them is still welcome here anytime they wanna be here.

- And it's support systems like that, that tend to help you when you're in a dark place.

This place is more than a family.

It's an amazing place.

Miss Mary is a great person and everyone that works here is just amazing.

And if you need anything at any point in time, just call 'em up and they'll be there for you.

- This program is important to me because I've seen so many veterans struggle just asking for someone to help them have a second chance.

It's gonna be okay, 'cause we're gonna be on either side of you and we've got your six.

And we're not gonna let you go.

And we'll keep working with you until we get it, whatever it takes.

- [Narrator 2] Next, we meet Starting Right Now, a nonprofit transforming the lives of homeless youth.

- I used to think that one person could not do much.

I do not believe that anymore.

If everyone helped one person, our world would be a better place.

And it was really me helping this one person Chale get on her feet that made me understand how difficult it was to navigate as a person that had no resources.

The mission of Starting Right Now is to end youth homelessness by making sure that our kids propel to their highest education goal.

I have a daughter, when she was 18 months old, she was diagnosed with frontal lobe epilepsy.

In third grade, she had had such a bad seizure that it had wiped out her memory.

And we literally started over from scratch.

Everybody kept directing us back to this doctor in Houston.

And the idea was that we would go for a week, they would monitor her seizures, the next week they would dissect that part of her brain.

And we would come home.

Here I was with my daughter 24/7 because we can afford for me to be in this hospital.

And for the first time I witnessed poverty.

These kids were having brain surgery with literally no one around them.

After three and a half months of being in the hospital, the doctors came in and they said they would never find the origin.

I ran into my car and called my husband hysterically crying.

And I said, you know what, I don't think I can go back to my life.

I think we need to help someone.

(instrumental music) And so I reached out to the homeless division of the school district and said, "I'll take five families for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I'll fulfill their wishlist."

And on one of the visits, I ended up being outside this woman's motel that had two little boys with her.

And I came to find out that she was escaping domestic violence for the third time.

She did not wanna take her two sons back to a shelter and she was gonna do it on her own.

I drove around the neighborhood, I found a really cute house, I signed a lease.

And when she saw the house, she literally fell to the ground and said, "I don't understand, I can't even afford this."

And really she could afford it, it was actually cheaper than the motel.

And I said to her, "I'm not gonna pay your rent, you have to pay your rent.

I'm just willing to do the deposits and to get you into this house."

Sudden started realizing that there were all these barriers that homeless people were going through that I really didn't even understand or know.

And so really through her, I started learning how to navigate the system.

Since then, we have helped about 300 kids graduate from high school and propel to either the military vocational training or higher education.

- Well, the kids come in after school, they have life skill classes on Monday and Wednesday, where we have different educators from the community, come in to teach them a new skill.

- Everything from anger management, to mindfulness, to meditation, to poetry, to public speaking, to etiquette.

- The mental maps we do them twice a year.

And our first map will outline the student we say from birth until the time they get into SRN.

The first map is kind of dark because it outlines some of the most defining moments in their life.

And so kids put everything on there from being in 15 different schools, to experiencing sexual abuse from multiple family members, not having a home, not having food.

When I first started here, I had a hard time believing that some of these things were true because I just thought, my God, no person could be capable of this.

But you start to hear the same story really over and over from each student.

- My situation with my father wasn't quite good.

I came out as trans.

And so he told me that I was booted the house and that I was no longer welcome in the house.

- The kids who were here, I know that they're gonna be successful.

And we're gonna help them become the best version of themselves.

Their second map is from the time they enter Starting Right Now and in theory through their future.

And you just see such a growth in the two maps, because in the second one, the kids start really talking about how they are dealing with.

So speaking with the therapist, dealing with their past traumas, all the accomplishments that they have once they start in Starting Right Now.

And a lot of them get scholarships or college acceptances that just makes them feel good and kind of start their journey to becoming who they're meant to be.

- I feel more free than I used to be.

They woke up you with open arms.

They try to make you feel as comfortable as you can, but then when you get used to it, you're like, okay, like this is a good place to be.

And it's a safe place to be.

- Down hall.

- We've definitely developed our mentor program a lot more, which is my favorite part of the organization.

I mean, they hold the one of the most important pieces in this family.

- The student really does not want this person in their life.

They're one more person they assume will let them down.

And as they build this relationship, they realize that this person is actually the most reliable person they've ever had in their life.

- Having a mentor is awesome, I 100% recommend it.

- I'll pick my mentee up from whichever house that they live in.

And then we'll do something that both of us have never done before or something that he's ever done before.

But we always try to go on an adventure.

My most memorable moment as a mentor was teaching my mentee how to drive a boat.

Like there was just pure bliss on his face the whole time.

- They're there to mentor you and guide you through life.

And I definitely need guidance in my life and I appreciate her more than she knows.

- The kids in are our program, they're 100% accountable to us, which is very unique for the kids 'cause most of them have been living on their own and have not been accountable to anyone.

Every student has to have a part-time job.

They have to open a checking and savings account that my staff oversees.

They have to come up with a budget.

They have to live within their budget.

And the idea is that 30% of their income will go into a savings account so that when they leave us, they actually have money that they can actually go do whatever they need to do.

We do a lot of mental health counseling that they go to see to make sure that when everyone leaves us, they are actually in a good place.

- We go this three day retreat where it's an emotional intelligence retreat.

They do a whole segment on coping strategies, anger management, and really how to express gratitude.

And at the end of it, every person at the retreat receives an affirmation.

So some kind of positive affirmation.

And multiple students wrote to me this year, which it's always really nice to read you know.

They're like, Miss Dom, you helped save my life.

Miss Dom, you are the first person who ever expressed love to me.

And so, I'm sorry, to know that for the first time a kid is like, man, somebody actually cares that I'm here tomorrow.

That's what keeps me coming back because I do care that they're here tomorrow.

And so it's the best job in the world honestly.

- Before I came here, I had struggled with a lot of my identity and who I was in my life.

And I also had struggle with addiction.

But definitely Starting Right Now has saved my life, I would say so.

- I've become a mom to a lot of kids that I didn't birth.

And I look at them and think if they can overcome, everybody can.

I mean, we have nurses, social workers, teachers, welders, EMTs, firefighters who are now back in our community, serving our community that are giving back.

Coy seizures are the worst thing that ever happened to our family and the greatest blessing that ever happened to us.

Because I would not be the person I am today had that not happened.

And these kids saved me when I was actually at my lowest point.

They actually showed me how to persevere and be resilient and forgive.

And they've enhanced my life so many more ways than I've ever enhanced theirs.

- [Narrator 2] Last, we visit Suncoast Animal League, a no-kill shelter dedicated to finding animals their forever home.

(soft music) - I had run another shelter in Pinellas county for a little over 20 years.

And I left there and then Annette and I got the idea to start our own.

And so we co-founded Suncoast Animal League.

We opened up at the end of 2006.

When we opened up, we had about $245 in the bank.

Where I came from, there was like six and a half acres and 34 employees and all kinds of kennel space and that.

We had to readjust our thinking a little bit.

- We want to be able to say yes to take all these puppies and dogs and cats and kittens in.

And we can't do that without fostering.

And so, there's that saying like fostering saves lives.

It does because you're making space for other animals to be rescued and to be brought into the shelter.

- And I think in the long run, it has turned out to be better for the animals because they're getting more personal attention by going into foster homes.

I mean, it's just amazing how much it's grown.

I mean, the shelter itself is not very big, but what we do is I think incredible.

- Love, volunteering here.

This is like a privilege and an honor to be a part of this association.

Each volunteer spends time with the dog in the yard and you can see their personalities start to come out.

It's just amazing how much they bounce back.

They have been through so much of them have, and then they come here and then you can just see them decompress.

- The biggest thing is when we got a cat or a dog or wildlife, whatever it is when we got 'em, when it came through our door and it became our responsibility what we wanted was to be able to one, make them better for their stay with us.

But not just a little bit better to do everything mentally and physically to make them the best that they can be.

And when they go into a home, they'll stay into that home.

And we get a lot of the difficult cases.

It's not uncommon for us to have four or $5,000 cat or dog that has a particular thing that requires a specialist.

And that was a big thing with Denali.

- Denali was a victim of domestic violence.

She's kind of collateral damage in a domestic dispute.

Her former owner wore accelerant on her all over the house and lit the house on fire with Denali trapped in a crate inside.

The fire department thankfully got to her before the fire did, but the accelerant, the chemical accelerant that was poured on her caused third degree burns over 35% of her body.

And she was in the ICU for 16, 17 days fighting for her life.

And then after that, she was wrapped in bandages for another 64 days.

I was her medical foster, so we drove back and forth at first every few days to get bandage changes and then once a week, and then finally she was able to live without being bandaged.

She has this energy about her.

And the two dogs I had fostered before her Clover and Ruby, they were also burned, but they were in accidental fires and they had been placed at fire stations and they are doing amazing things with outreach and teaching kids in the community.

And with Denali, I just assumed that she was so special, she was meant for greater things.

So I just remember saying to Rick, you know, like, am I enough for her?

Am I enough because she's just amazing.

I saw how she was with people, with other foster animals I brought in and she's just like this healer.

I adopted her, we had a huge adoption event, a fundraiser for Suncoast and then we started our training.

One of her most inspiring roles, I would say, as a therapy dog is we do weekly visits at a domestic violence shelter.

- I think it's really important that Denali has started coming to visit us at the shelter because all of the women and children that have come here have all faced some kind of trauma.

And being able to be loved by Denali the kisses, the hugs, just the pure joy of a dog coming into shelter brightens their day.

We share her story with the ladies and the kids that are guests at that time at the shelter.

And she is part of their group sessions where they just kind of sit around and chit chat and pet Denali.

Sometimes they talk about things that have happened.

And sometimes it's just like a nice afternoon visit with friends.

- Hearing Denali's story and meeting Denali and knowing that she has thrived and overcome tremendous leaps and bounds to be where she is today, some of our survivors have also come across the same leaps and bounds, and they know that it's possible to get through the worst nightmare of your life.

They can do it, Denali can do it, Denali has done it.

- To see how she is with the guests there and then to find out afterwards from staff that she picked a young lady that hasn't smiled since she got there and she just lit up when she saw Denali.

And Denali just finds her and sits in her lap and the young lady's just petting her back.

That made her day, that brightened her day.

And for however long they are there that was the day that she smiled for the first time.

You see what I guess people can do in abuse situations to animals, but there are good people out there, like all of us at the shelter and the volunteers and the fosters and the community that rallies around them, we see the outcome.

We see that the light at the end of the tunnel and we know that we can make it better.

We know we can make their lives better and they never have to worry about being hurt again.

- We can't do the amazing things without some amazing volunteers.

That's basically what it comes down to.

To have all these volunteers that come out every single day.

We have three shifts of dog walkers that come every single day and walk the dogs and play with the dogs and do this.

- I do the rescues and they usually come here or to PetSmart and we do intake, medical, bathing.

- We have volunteer shifts at the thrift shop.

We have dogtoberfests.

We also have our rescue events.

So we have two things going on here today.

We have some foster to adopt puppies, so that means they've been in foster homes and the families have decided to adopt.

And then we have a bunch of adoptable pups that are looking for their forever families.

And that's what everyone has lined up here to meet hopefully a new addition to their family today.

- If we didn't have Suncoast, what would happen to the dogs that we've helped?

Where would they go?

We don't know what would happen to them.

- And that's one of the things that we try to impress upon them.

We can't do this without you.

That's one of the things that keeps me going is the fact that how that little puppy or how that little kitten can change generations of families just from that one adoption.

- [Narrator 2] There are over 15,000 nonprofit organizations in west central Florida.

Be more inspired, get involved, volunteer, and help make a difference.

(instrumental music) This program is made possible by Tampa General Hospital, The Charity Registry, Nielsen, The Bank of Tampa, Florida Blue, Unite Us and the Bernard F. and Mary Anne Powell Foundation.

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