Organization takes care of heroes’ best friends | News | Berkeley Independent

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Organization takes care of heroes’ best friends

Published Tuesday, January 04, 2011 12:17 PM

By Jim Tatum
Berkeley Independent

photo provided

Cena, a 6-month-old Labrador retriever, is looking for a temporary place to call home while her owner goes on deployment.

It’s stressful enough for active duty military personnel to go on deployment and have to leave family behind.

It’s even harder when part of that family is a beloved pet that has nowhere to go.

Happily, there is an alternative – but it needs help from the public to become more readily available, says Charmaine Wozniak, South Carolina State Director, Guardian Angels for Soldier’s Pet (GASP).

Never heard of the group? Neither had Wozniak, she said. In fact, GASP is relatively new non-profit organization.

Founders Linda Spurlin-Dominik and Carol Olmedo started the organization in 2005 after they learned that military service members across the country had pets that needed caring, loving, and safe homes during the pet owner’s deployment but had not been able to find anyone to care for them.

This left the deploying active duty military pet owner with only one option, which was to relinquish their beloved pets and pet ownership rights to an animal shelter or rescue group never to see their pets again and never to know if they got a new good home or ended up being euthanized.

In its five years of existence it has made a great difference in the lives of many military personnel, Wozniak said.

“It’s a great idea and it is working, but it is new – so new that many in the military don’t even know about it, much less the public,” Wozniak said. “We want to change that.”

Wosniak, who initially volunteered to be a foster home, soon discovered she was not only the only person in the Lowcountry who wanted to help, she was one of the only people in the state who seemed to even know about the organization. Before she knew it, she found herself the state director for the organization.

Two short term goals she wants to accomplish are one, get the word out about GASP and its services -- both to the military community and to the public -- and two, find volunteers and foster families. With such a strong military presence in South Carolina and the Lowcountry, the need is there, she said. For those who have always wanted to do something to help the military, but weren’t sure how or what, this is a novel, and much needed opportunity.

Wozniak stresses that the foster situations are temporary. Ideally, GASP wants to place a pet in a home as close to the deployed soldier’s home as possible, but the organization also wants to ensure that the situation is the best fit for everyone.

Currently there are some 30 foster homes in South Carolina, but none in the Lowcountry.

To find out more about the organization and how to help, call 832-8360 or visit www.guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org

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