Kira is a loving 4 year old female labrador/pit mix. She was rescued just in time to allow her the opportunity to live a happy, loving and purposeful life. Kira is full of life, loves to work and has a huge heart! She is a high energy girl that loves hikes and to say she likes playing ball would be a big understatement! Kira was featured in the video produced by Petco and has received about 100,000 hits on that video, so she’s kind of a big deal. Kira met her new veteran dad, Vic, in May of 2014. They quickly fell in love and created a truly beautiful bond during Vic’s handling training course. Kira completed her training, passed her Canine Good Citizen Exam and her Psychiatric Service Dog Public Access Test with straight A’s! Shelter to Soldier honored Vic and Kira at their graduation held on November 10th, 2014. Graduation coverage thanks to CBS8 News
Not only is Vic being blessed with an amazing best friend, but STS and Kira have been blessed by meeting Vic. He is the creator of our new Shelter to Soldier logo and also created our new logo for our profit dog training company partner, Specialty Dog Training™. Vic and Kira are a match made in heaven and we are excited to share their incredible story with all of you. Vic has gained so much from our program and the love of his working service dog Kira and he has shared these feelings with our team. We would like to share some of what Vic has shared and experienced because we want each and every one of our supporters to know, you are truly helping us “save lives, two at at time”.
“I am so blessed to have had Shelter to Soldier come into my life and welcome me with open, understanding and loving arms. It has given me purpose and confidence that I thought didn’t exist anymore. In my darkest of hours I could not have imagined such a light as the one shining from Kira’s smile and Shelter to Soldier’s huge heart. I cannot thank the sponsors, volunteers, Graham, Kyrie and all those so valiantly involved with savings lives, two at at time. Blessed. ” ~ Vic Martin
“I wish there was something I could say that was more than thank-you Shelter to Soldier. I am so very grateful for the gift you have given me. It is priceless. It is my life. You’re amazing. ~ Vic Martin
Just today (11/19), Vic emailed this: “The last few days have been really really rough. Kira has been right by my side and right now is laying at my feet while I am typing this. She also woke me up from a nightmare last night by jumping in bed with me and kissing my face. After I woke up she kept kissing me and then curled up under the covers slept with me the rest of the morning. Pretty fantastic.” ~ Vic Martin
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Tyberius AKA Ty and Corporal James Norvell: Ty was an owner surrender that had a loving foster family but he had lost his mom tragically and suddenly. Jagger & Kristi at Magic 92.5 were working on helping Ty and his mom before she passed away and reached out to our founder, Graham Bloem, to help Ty. When his mom, Laurie, passed, Graham, Jagger and Kristi were connected to Ty and wanted to continue to support him and his foster family. Our friends at Cafe Coyote San Diego stepped up and sponsored Ty’s in home training to help him through this tough time and during the training, Graham realized that Ty had so much potential and he really needed a job…more of a purpose. His foster family agreed and saw the same desire in Ty and adopted Ty into our Shelter to Soldier program. Once Ty was a part of the STS family, Cafe Coyote and Jagger & Kristi from Magic 92.5 helped us secure the additional funds that were needed to have Ty complete our program. Ty had some ups and downs which was to be expected but he has a heart of gold and a desire to please that took him through our program and he graduated with straight A’s! We matched Ty with an amazing young man, a deserving combat veteran named James Norvell. James and Ty fell in love with each other in less than 5 minutes and once James completed his handling training, he was able to take Ty home. James suffered a brain injury while deployed when an IED (improvised explosive device) went off feet from his humvee. In addition to James’ brain injury from this blast, he lost a marine corp brother in that attack. He has seen and been through so much and his diagnosis of TBI and PTSD led to his medical retirement from the United States Marine Corp. James knew he loved dogs and he and his family knew that he would need support to adjust to life at home again after what he had been through. So, James looked into acquiring a service dog. He was mislead a few times by some organizations sadly, let down by others and then he found Shelter to Soldier. James and Ty are now a team, a partnership that the two of them understand and love more than anyone can describe. Corporal James Norvell is not just veteran to us, he is a friend, a fellow dog lover and a spokesperson for STS from time to time. He is always wanting to help other veterans because he says he feels so lucky and blessed that he found STS and Ty. Here are two quotes from James that he sent our founder, Graham Bloem: “Graham, thank you for what you are doing for me and other fellow combat veterans sir. You have a special place in heaven saved for you sir”. “I can’t thank you enough for what you have done for us sir, I seriously think Ty saved my life”. Graduation coverage thanks to Fox5 News
These incredible, powerful words mean so much to our organization because that is our mission, Saving Lives Two at a Time.