PNC Bank Supports Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Inc. for Veterans

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hello everyone and welcome to the show. Today I have to start by special shout out Yoshiko, Yoshiko Dart. Who is the wife of the late Justin Dart Jr. They were behind so much of the disability advocacy for the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and this year is the 30th anniversary of the signing. Also, I have to have a special shout out to my two friends from the State Department, Richard Roberts Joyce Bender, who is in Okinawa and Gangneung in Seoul, South Korea. They are not only friends, they are great disability advocates, and you will be hearing more about the show coming to you from South Korea next year, Okinawa this year. So this is a great day today. I am so excited to thank all of my Listeners throughout the world, China being the biggest listening audience, thank you so much. I just want to take a moment to say to all of you who listen to the show, I don't care if it's one person, like the one person in Saudi Arabia, I don't care how many it is, you can make a difference. You can be a patriot. You could tell other people with disabilities about the show, or business people. That hire people. You will make a difference. Thank you so much. And thank you, Highmark, our lead sponsor for the past 4 years. David Holmberg, what a great CEO and company Highmark is. And also Peoples, Peoples, formerly Peoples Natural Gas. Oh my God, I miss Morgan O'Brien so much. She was the CEO, but thank you Peoples. And Wells Fargo, Regina Hayward will be on the show next month, who is the head of all supplier diversity for Wells Fargo. She is awesome. And the Employment Option, thank you, thank you for being with us and being on our show at the beginning of the year. So I've gotta tell you, I really looked forward to this show today. I really did, because it has one of my favorite people No offense to the other guests, Michael, but I don't know Michael, but I do know Kris Phillips, who is absolutely a rock star. She is just a dynamo, a wonderful person. She is an advocate for veterans, veterans with disabilities, and people with disabilities. And let me just say this right now, don't stand in her way. Okay? 'Cause if you do, you're gonna get run over. There is no doubt in my mind about that. And Mike Clark, who works for PNC as a business analyst, and Mike, I assume Blade is with you.

She is always with me 24 hours a day.

And she is, what type of service dog is she?

She's a German Shepherd. Medical service dog, and she helps me with a number of issues that I struggle with every day.

Well, I know they are so awesome. As a matter of fact, children with epilepsy, a lot of children with epilepsy try to get a seizure dog because it is so helpful to them. And, you know, my office, we have 2 people who are blind in the office who both have service dogs. So I love them, but I know also what a great accommodation that they are. First to the Marine, Chris Phillips.

You are—

Yeah. You are such a tremendous advocate, as I just mentioned, just an all-around great person. And you are the military liaison and a million other things at PNC. So why don't you tell everyone what you do at PNC?

So I am the military affairs liaison for PNC Bank. I work in community affairs as part of PNC's corporate responsibility office. I am the senior advisor and mentor to our military employee business resource group, and I'm also a member of our military advisory council.

Well, you know, I just have been wanting to tell you, you aren't busy enough. You need to start doing more.

Okay, so I am, I am the business lead, uh, the co-business lead for the Mudstrut. We're going to talk about that little thing later here on the show.

Oh, all right, and I can't wait to talk about that. Um, you have many initiatives for veterans, Chris, at PNC, which is— PNC is such a wonderfully Great company with Bill Demchak, a great CEO. But one of the initiatives we're gonna talk about is so exciting. And then we have another initiative we'll be talking about, but I know you do more than one thing, so I wanted to cover both of them. Guardian Angels Service Dogs. What is that? And how did you become involved? How did PNC become involved?

So Joyce, you know the statistics as well as I do, right? The Veterans Administration estimates that every day an average, right, of 22 veterans die by suicide due to the impacts of combat. So there has to be some sort of a solution, and Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is an amazing organization out of Williston, Florida. They breed, raise, and train medical service dogs for veterans and first responders that are in danger of suicide. These dogs help mitigate a number of the disabilities, including mobility issues, seizures and diabetic disorders, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and so much more. And PNC wanted to help. We wanted to find a way to fund a service dog. Well, this was 5 years ago. And the idea of the Mudstrut grew from there, but our relationship with Guardian Angels started then. We reached out to Greg Jordan, who you and I both know is an amazing, amazing individual, and the regional president's office for their guidance, and just really worked with them to figure out how PNC could become involved and do it in the best way, right? Because PNC doesn't do things half, right? So, it was and continues to be this amazing outpouring, right, from our communities that have joined PNC and support this amazing organization. To date, PNC and our corporate partners, including Highmark and EY, right, Buchan and Ingersoll, and the other law firms here in town, along with Lamar, right, advertising, as you see the billboards that are up, they funded more than 53 service dogs in the past 4 years. Wow. Now, think about that. 53 service dogs. Service dogs are $25,000 apiece, and they cost the veteran nothing, right? And P&C actually has 21 sponsored service dogs in 11 of our markets.

That is awesome, and kudos to you. You know, Chris, when I was thinking about the show, Sometimes people forget that you are a veteran and a Marine. I would have to say that you would have— and thank you both so much for serving our country— but I would think you would definitely have great perspective on this, understanding what people, you know, go through that cause them, when they come back, to die by suicide. I mean, You would know very well, and I would have to think that is what has helped you so much in these programs. But do you believe that people at large know about this, that they know how many veterans die by suicide every day?

I don't think so. Mike, what do you think?

I think we're starting to see our communities more engaged. I don't think it's— we're quite there yet, but we're really starting to see, you know, through initiatives like the Mudstrut and all of our corporate sponsors really supporting this event, we're starting to see our communities be more aware and attuned to really what's going on in our veteran community.

Well, I'll tell you why I said that, Chris. Over 5 years ago, I spoke at an event at Cigna with Ted Kennedy Jr., okay? Yeah. And when he was speaking, he was talking about veterans and how we have to support veterans with disabilities. And he said, did you know 22 '22 veterans a day die by suicide.' And I looked at Mary, my chief operating officer, who you know well. I looked at Mary and I said, 'Oh my God, he made a mistake. I think he meant to say 22 a month. Oh no.' And Mary said, 'Well, let me look that up.' She said, 'No, it was correct.' This is what I mean when I say I don't think people, I don't think if you went around and you interviewed people and said, how many people a day do you think veterans die by suicide? I really don't think they would know. I do not think they would get the magnitude of this horror. So that is why I think this is so very important what you're doing, because what are you doing? You're saving lives. What is more powerful than that? Nothing. So, Michael, like Chris, you also served our country. Actually, I read about your background.

Wow.

I mean, you really— 23 years, an impressive military career from platoon leader to division staff officer, now an employee in a corporation, PNC. So First, tell me about your career in the military. What did that mean to you? Why did you even get involved in the military?

All right, thank you, Joyce Bender. Yeah, 23 years, it seems like just yesterday that I hung up my uniform and moved into the corporate sector, but You know, I think for me, you know, being able to serve my country was something that I always wanted to do from being, from, you know, when I was a little kid, it was like, you know, one of those things that I just wanted to do. And so right after high school, I enlisted. I spent a good 4 years traveling the globe. And then I decided to go back to college and get my, my degree and I got commissioned in the Army. And my senior year in college, you know, was 9/11. And at that time, you know, you started to see a lot of service members being deployed and I was one of them. So, it was multiple deployments after 9/11. And I just decided to stay in and make it a career. And so here I am, you know, 23 years later. I did finally hang up that uniform in 2005. And, you know, it is something that I am very proud of. It is something that I would encourage so many people to really do. And, but I am happy to, be able to move on and work in the corporate sector now.

And how hard was that for you to make that transition?

So that was, you know, that's a great question. It was very difficult. You know, being deployed in a combat zone is not easy. And I deployed multiple times. To combat zones. And going back and forth was probably the hardest thing for me. Coming home and trying to flip that switch in my brain to say, "Okay, you know, it's not dangerous over here," but, you know, you still felt that sense of uncertainty and just that constant guard, being on guard. So, I had a really hard time, you know, focusing and working in a regular corporate office space was really challenging for me. I had been injured a couple of times as well. So, you know, I was struggling with those things, trying to maintain a, you know, a job here in the States. And it was just really difficult. It got to a point where I was just ready to, you know, throw in, throw in the towel and just kind of give up. And that's when, you know, I was introduced to PNC Bank and this wonderful cause.

Well, thank goodness for that. What do you do at PNC, Mike? What do you do?

Yeah, I'm, I do data analytics for our internal audit department. And because of just everything that P&T has given me, I'm also involved in a number of employee engagement groups like supporting individuals with disabilities and veterans causes. So, I, I'm involved greatly with a lot of the same engagements that Chris, uh, who's here with us today, is involved.

Well, I'm certainly glad you're involved with that, uh, group with disabilities because I would be after you if you were not with that group. So that's good you're doing that, uh, Mike. But I want to tell you something, you know, people don't realize, but it is very hard to come back, as you said, from a deployment to leave the military and then, okay, now I'm going to go out and get a job and be able to easily make that transition. Chris, what do you think about that?

I agree with you.

Because when you do, you know, you're accustomed, first of all, to regimentation, to, you know, your brother-sisterhood. To every day, every single day, a high-adrenaline day, and sadly, a very sad, frightening day. And then you're supposed to just go start, like, you know, it, it, it, it does— it isn't a factor. And that's why I know there are programs today training people on the world of work before they go to the world of work, you know, when they're in the military. And I think that is so important and so wonderful to be doing that. And Mike, I want to congratulate you that you were able to make that move so easily— not easily, that you were able to make the move, period.

Yeah, well, I don't think I could have done it without Guardian Angels Medical Services. Service dogs and all the work that PNC does, to be honest. You know, having an opportunity to find a more holistic approach to care through these service dogs has really changed my life, and it can affect and change so many more. So, this is such a great thing.

Yeah, one thing that people don't realize is how that one accommodation is like life-changing, absolutely life-changing for so many people. And once again, I thank you, Chris and P&C, for this wonderful service that you're providing. You're talking about Blade. So why is that important to you? What, what difference does that make for you and any veteran with a disability listening to the show who doesn't know about Blade? About that.

Yeah, so, so Blade has, has really blessed me with this opportunity to what I call enjoy life again. Um, you know, those deep dark days when you return home and you're constantly thinking about all the close friends that you lost and all the carnage that, that combat poses, you know, it, it just was not I didn't enjoy life anymore. You know, I just wanted to crawl up in a hole and isolate myself. So being introduced to Blade, you know, she has helped me navigate and recognize things that in the past have really kept me from wanting to get out of bed in the morning. These service dogs are trained for so many different disabilities. Everything from helping a veteran who suffers with diabetes to mobility changes to post-traumatic stress. And, you know, having a service dog like Blade has really helped restore my sense of independence. It's more holistic, a more holistic approach to care. You know, I was on so many medications. That I really couldn't think clearly and I just didn't see life going anywhere except for calming me down and really putting me into a tranquil state. So, being able to be with a dog versus using these medications, to me, was something that really changed my life and I'm so happy. To be paired with Blade.

That's wonderful. And Chris, if anyone is interested in that program at P&C, should they get in touch with you? Okay, and your email is?

Chris, C-H-R-I-S, dot Phillips, P-H-I-L-L-I-P-S, at P&C dot com.

Okay, and with that, hey folks, we're going to go to break. If you just joined us, we are talking to two veterans, Chris Phillips, who is the military liaison and executive at PNC, and Mike Clark, a business analyst at PNC. Two awesome people. Don't go away, we'll be right back with Chris and Mike.

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You're listening to Disability Matters. If you have a question or comment, call in toll-free at 1-866-472-5788. That's Call 1-866-472-5788. Now please welcome back the host of Disability Matters. Here's Joyce Bender.

Hello everyone, welcome back to the show. We are talking to Chris Phillips, Executive and Military Liaison for PNC, and Mike Clark, also a veteran, a Business Analyst at PNC. And we were just talking about his service dog Blade. And I want to encourage you that if you do want to find out any information about that, please get in touch with Chris Phillips. And Chris, your email again?

It's chris.phillips@pnc.com.

And we are going to talk more to Chris and Mike, especially about this wonderful program they have. But right now, as you know, on the half hour is our news break with our anchor person for Advocacy Matters, Perry Jude Radesik, CEO of Pennsylvania Disability Rights PA, Disability Rights PA. Are you there with us, Perry?

Hey Joyce, I'm here. Uh, happy Labor Day.

Belated Labor Day. You too.

So, uh, today we want to talk about the new presidential order halting residential evictions through the end of December. The order possibly could affect people with disabilities, and so we have all of this information at www. Disabilityrightspa.org. If you go to our website, you'll find the information there. Right now, uh, the eviction of tenants, as the president says, it could be detrimental to the public health, which is the reason behind the presidential order halting the residential evictions through the end of December. So again, the order is to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by limiting homelessness and increasing, uh, and stopping really the increase of the number of individuals who would be forced to live together through the evictions. Now one thing that's important, that this order does not apply to mortgage foreclosures, only to residential evictions but not mortgage foreclosures. And usually we think, well, maybe it's Housing and Urban Development or maybe it's U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development that might be involved in this. It's not. It's the Centers for Disease Control. And we'll— and soon you'll find out why it's Centers for Disease Control. So on September 4th, the Centers for Disease Control issued a notice in the Federal Register, and of course, you know, here at Disability Rights Pennsylvania, we have all of the information, so you can find a link to that notice in the Federal Register at disabilityrightspa.org. So the CDC's basis now for implementing the presidential order order on the moratorium on eviction is a code in the United States Code, which is a reg— regulation in the public health code to control communicable diseases. So the law allows the Surgeon General to authorize and enforce regulations that are necessary to prevent the introduction or transmission or spread of these communicable diseases from one state to another. So really, this is an emergency action from the CDC. So landlords and owners are not allowed to evict people under this order. So how does this all work? Well, you have to download a copy of this declaration form and present it to the landlord, and we'll get into more to that in a minute. Advocates have some concern about whether the CDC really has the power and the authority to prevent evictions. So, you know, it's really kind of a wait-and-see as this goes through the court system whether the CDC has this authority. But the CDC does have the power to bring criminal fines against the landlords who don't comply with this order. So there are criminal penalties for violating this order. So it's all a wait and see. But if people with disabilities are in this situation, they find themselves with an eviction order because they're— they meet the criteria under the order, they, uh, and there's a moratorium through the end of December, you get the declaration form. Try it. Go give them the declaration form. You have to sign the declaration form, uh, and you have to meet this criteria, which includes not being able to get any more government assistance. You have to meet this income threshold. You can't be able to pay your full rent, and you have to still try to pay your rent, and you have to understand that this is a temporary halt to your rent. So you have to meet all these criteria You sign the declaration form and you give it to your landlord, and you're not supposed to be evicted. So we have a declaration form on our website at Disability Rights PA. And here at Advocacy Matters, information is power. This is all new information. We're trying to figure out how this works and how it will be implemented and enforced. How do you know if you're covered? Go to Disability Rights PA. Look at the information to see if you're covered, download the declaration form, and give it to your landlord if you think you are covered by this act. So again, disabilityrightspa.org for all of the information under this presidential order halting residential evictions.

And, and I'm so glad you provided us with this information. Uh, Perry Jude, what can and what should our listeners do that are so concerned about this?

Well, certainly if you know someone who is facing a residential eviction, tell them to go to our website and get this declaration form. You can't just go to your landlord and say you can't evict me. That's not gonna work. Under this order, people have to have this declaration form, they have to meet the criteria, and they have to give this to their landlord. Otherwise, they're not gonna qualify under this presidential order. So that's the first thing. If you know somebody, educate yourself to be able to help them. The rest of us are gonna stay tuned and see how this all works out, and we sure, sure do hope that this order is real, that it gets enforced, and, uh, and people stay in their homes through the end of December.

Oh, that would be terrible if they did not. I mean, that would be horrible. Um, if someone has a question about this, should they just go to your website, Perry Jude, to send in their question?

Absolutely, go to our website. Get this information. Now, if you live in Pennsylvania and you're a person with a disability, you can call us, but if you live in another state, you're going to have to call legal aid in your state or your P&A in your state.

Excuse me, Joyce.

Okay, well, we'll do that, and you will keep on top of this. And no matter what you're talking about on the segment, Perry Jude, if you ever want to give us an update also on this, that would be good.

Oh, we will stay tuned. Yes, absolutely.

Okay, thank you so much, Perry Jude. I'll be talking to you next week.

Looking forward to it, Joyce.

Thank you. Um, wow. You know who that would impact? A lot of veterans with disabilities. You know that? I just know that there are so many who are homeless, and sadly that would impact them also. So, but Chris, we have some good news here, and that is this special program that I know you are so excited about at PNC, the Mut Strut program. Why don't you talk about that for our listeners?

Sure. So we're really excited about the Muttstruck because it's our main way of supporting Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs. You know, this is that great organization that we're talking about today. We made a commitment to Guardian Angels, and the Muttstruck is how we serve that commitment to them and to our veterans. And so canceling this event or skipping a year, Joyce, it was never an option. And I mean, I have to say, you know, kudos to our leadership because it was never even considered that we would cancel. We were going to figure out how to, you know what I mean, how to honor our commitment. Because of COVID-19, the event is going to take place virtually this year, which is kind of interesting, right? But it has a variety of activities for people to participate in. And there's an online auction. It went live this morning. For any of the listeners that want to log on and hear more about it, you can go to www. Mutstrut, the number 4, servicedogs.com, and the website will take you on this wonderful adventure of the 2020 Virtual Community Mutstrut. It has an online auction. There's a dog contest. I'm going to talk about that in just a moment. And daily testimonials from our veteran recipients and some of our corporate partners. As a matter of fact, Joyce Bender, one of our friends, and corporate partners, Deb Bryce-Johnson from Highmark. She kicked us off this morning virtually with a welcome to everyone and talked about Highmark's commitment to Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, too.

Oh, you know what? How am I not surprised?

I'm not surprised at all.

She is so awesome.

Yeah. Absolutely. So, as I mentioned, in addition to the online auction, there's a dog contest. Oh boy. So, 4 categories for people to enter their dogs in. Best Costume. Quarantine Puppy. So, if you were one of those crazy people like me that thought, "Hey, I'm going to be home for 3 or 4 months, so I'm going to go out and get a new dog," you can upload a picture of your dog into this category and invite your friends and family to vote, right? So, it's $1 a vote, but we're going to talk about that in just a minute. So Best Costume, Quarantine Puppy, and of course People's Choice, right? These are all decided by who gets the most votes, right? Who works their social media, who, you know, twists the arm of their mom and dad and their family and friends. It's a dollar a vote, so whoever gets the most votes in those 3 categories wins. But I mentioned there was 4 categories, and so the last category is really special. This is Best in Show, Judge's Choice. And the reason that this is so special is that we have our corporate partner, Ernst Young, EY, is joining members from PNC. Jack Wagner from Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, right? Rocky Blier is one of our judges. Commander Keith Meyer from the United States Air Force is joining us. And last but not least, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Woody Williams is joining us this year as a judge for Best in Show. And Dr. Yu— Oh, wow! And Dr. Yu from Highmark will be with us also. It is going to be so exciting. They are going to be meeting on Sunday and Monday after the close of the Muttstrat, and be making an announcement of which puppy, which dog that has been loaded up into this site over this whole week, right, will win Best in Show. We're hopeful that through this year's event, though, it's virtual, right, that we're still able to raise enough money to fund 10 service dogs, right? That is our goal, and we fully intend to keep that momentum going. You know, as I mentioned to you just a little bit ago, service dogs are about $25,000 apiece, and the veteran pays nothing. In fact, the need is now greater than ever. There's hundreds of veterans currently on the waiting list to be paired with a service dog, and there are hundreds of dogs at Guardian Angels in different stages of their training. This is normally more than what they would have at one time, you know what I mean, at the campus in Florida. But due to the coronavirus travel and safety restrictions, Pairings have slowed down, right? Can you imagine, Joyce, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, right? Knowing that you're going to— you're a veteran and you're going to be getting your service dog, right? It's March and it's April or May, and along comes coronavirus, and everything on the planet gets shut down, including that light at the end of the tunnel, because Now you don't know when you're going to get your dog, right? So P&C learned about this through a conversation with Guardian Angels, and Joyce, we knew we had to do something. Like, we— you know us well enough to know that that's who we are. And so, we worked with Guardian Angels to facilitate what are called micro-pairings. And we had 2 trainers in a cargo van come here. Right, with 6 service dogs, I believe, to be paired with veterans within our region, and one that actually lives outside the region. But they didn't have to fly. There was no travel restrictions. They drove. What a wonderful experience, right? We actually have some veterans here in the Pittsburgh region that received their dogs. It's so important, right, because each one of these dogs belongs to a veteran that's eager, right, that really wants to start their new life, right? And so, for us, this was just one way that we could give back, and it just kind of really kicked— what I called kicked off Muttstrut season. It's a season for me. Most people have 4 seasons. I have 5. Muttstrut season. And this year, even though we're virtual, we're going to keep it moving, and this is The one— this is the primary way that we give back to guardian angels.

Okay, now let's say you were no virtual, no COVID, we're at PNC. How— what does this look like?

So, no virtual, no COVID. So, Suicide Prevention Week is coming, right? Suicide Prevention Week is the week that we're in right now. Suicide Prevention— or National Suicide Prevention Day is actually on the 10th. And so normally it would be at Frick Park on Saturday. It's not there. It's not there. Time out. Normally it would be in Pittsburgh. This— Pittsburgh, Erie, and Dayton, 3 of our PNC markets have physical events, right? Set up with vendor village and with a DJ and lunch and all kinds of children's activities. And so what we did this year, so that we had to go online, We tried to keep that feel as much as possible, which is why when you visit that site that we talked about, themuttstrut.com, you can learn, you can like see veteran testimonials from our different veterans, right? There's a huge online auction. You can get MuttStrut gear. So, we are going to keep it going and hopefully next year we'll be able to do it on both fronts virtually and in person.

Well, first of all, I want to see the dog that wins, Chris.

Okay.

All right, I want to see that. You guys send me a picture of that dog that wins. And, um, people listening to the show right now, if they want to make a donation, what do they do?

They go to www.muttstrut.com. M-U-T-T-S-T-R-U-T, the number 4, servicedogs.com.

One more time.

Muttstrut. Muttstrut. M-U-T-T-S-T-R-U-T, the number 4, servicedogs.com. And you can donate. You can register for the event. Registration is free. So, you can register for the event and go out and look at the site and listen to all the testimonials and see all of the great activities that are happening every day, right? But when you go to that website, it has all the information that you need. If you wanna learn more about Guardian Angels, you can go to MedicalServiceDogs.org, and that'll take you directly to the Guardian Angels site.

And you know, while we were talking here, Chris, someone sent me something just to point out how extremely important this is, and this is very sad. A 33-year-old Army veteran who had served in Iraq shot himself live on Facebook. That just happened. Oh boy. So this is real. That's terrible. By the way, my thoughts go out to his family. I mean, how, how horrible, how horrific. I cannot stress to you how important this is. It is so very important. Uh, as Chris said, this week, September 10th, is National Suicide Prevention Month. If you're listening You got to tell everyone you know about this. Now listen, um, if you're someone listening but you just joined us, or you have someone else that you want to hear this, go to Apple or Spotify, subscribe to, uh, Disability Matters with Joyce Bender on voiceamerica.com, or go to voiceamerica.com to find out more. But if you just go to podcast, you can subscribe. You've got to share this with other people. You all have to share this show with other people. You've got to get this news out. This is so extremely important that, you know, oh my God, these things. Mike, I'm sure that breaks your heart what I just told.

Oh, terrible. You know, I, I feel so bad for, for him, his family. Um, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's tragic. And, you know, sadly, you know, we can't do this alone. We really need to come together as a community, um, and really look at ways we can help. And I'm telling you, for veterans out there that are needing to talk to somebody, you know, there's so many resources out there available to you. And if you want a dog, these dogs are amazing and they will help you. Just, you have to reach out. You have to— you have to reach out. That's all I can say.

Well, now, Mike, I was just I was actually going to ask you, you know, as someone that just went back to the world of work, but someone that has a service dog, anyone listening to this show, veteran, spouse, family, is that the main message you would want to get across to them to reach out to someone?

Absolutely. You know, there's, 24 hours a day, you know, there's a Veterans Crisis Line you can call. There are veterans like myself out there that are just— they're here for you. You know, we're here to help one another. You know, we served together as brothers and sisters for years, and we were always there for each other. We held each other up. And we stood by each other's sides through difficult times and through fun times. And that doesn't stop when you leave the service. There's always a veteran out there that is willing to talk to you.

How about you, Chris? What do you have to say to that family?

So, I mean, my heart breaks for them, right, and that it is— And I just— I don't even have the words, Joyce. Like, they're— don't you mean it's— it is just heartbreaking? Absolutely heartbreaking.

It is. And I can't believe— and thank you, the person that sent this to me— why they did that, because they wanted to stress how important this is, and as terrible as it is, because someone sent that to me, uh, most likely from what it looks like a veteran. How timely, but sadly timing. The only thing I will say about that is that it helped me and Chris and Mike reinforce how important this program is. It's so important that I'm going to ask you to please take time to make a donation. You can, you know, reach down there, there's always some money you can donate. And Chris, you told us where to go to make a donation, so we will make a donation. And also at PNC, do you have this on your website or anything, Chris?

It's actually on the Guardian Angels website. It is on— actually, it was on our news online this morning, but it is on the Guardian Angels Medical Service Dog website, right? It's actually listed as their— as the primary event right now. Also, you know what, Joyce? Even something that's even easier for the listeners, if they're with us right now, pull out your cell phones, right? And text the word MUTTSTRUT, just the word MUTTSTRUT, M-U-T-T-S-T-R-U-T, and you're going to text that word to 76278. Smells up— spells out the word SMART. So if you can't remember the numbers, just remember the word SMART, and it'll come up and ask you for your first and last name, your phone number, and your email address, and it will register you right to go in to the event. You can also Google, um, Community Muttstrut by PNC, and it will come right up for you in the search engine. Lots of ways to get there, Joyce.

Yeah, what was that? What do you do again if you're going to your phone? What do you do again?

You got your phone out, Joyce? You're ready? So you're going to type— you're going to text the word Muttstrut. And the number you're going to text it to is 76278, and it'll say welcome to GiveSmart, and it'll ask you for your information so you can register.

Smart. Remember everyone, if you can't remember it, just think smart and you'll be able to get it so easy. that They is to do. So easy. And I would encourage you again to please take time to make a donation. Mike, are there any last things you want to describe or talk about to our users about your service dog and how much it has helped you?

Yeah, I mean, I guess I just wanna say thank you to everyone, really. To all the listeners and everyone that's really brought this awareness of these challenges that are faced, that our veterans face directly to our communities. You know, as a veteran, you know, it's really, really awesome to see how organizations both large and small have really come together to support this event. And it's really energizing to see how all these businesses have really come together during these difficult times and made this a virtual event to keep that awareness going and to really support our veterans in our community. And, you know, seeing and hearing about all of our veterans that are looking at the end of their life and saying, you know, and giving up. You know, there are options out there. And these service dogs are just another tool for our veterans to consider when they're looking for a way to address those disabilities that they face every day.

Yes, isn't that so true? And once again, that service dog, that service dog will make a difference. Just as Mike told you, he didn't even want to get out of bed. But then came along Blade. So, you know, and it does give you back your independence and your desire to go out and just a happiness, a joy from that service dog. How about you, Chris? What do you want to leave? What message do you want to leave with our listeners?

You know, so Joyce, we have covered so much good ground here today, right? This has just been what an amazing amazing, you know, opportunity. I just wanted to get to just again, like Mike, express just how grateful I am to all of our partners and our sponsor organizations, our corporate partners, PNC, that, you know, work with us, right, to make this Mudstrut happen every year. We owe a lot of thanks to the employees at PNC that volunteer every year and put a heck of a lot of time. Mike and I have barely been talking about this year's Muttstrut since the day after last year's Muttstrut. So, I just want to— you know, we— this is truly a team effort. It's a labor of love for us because we believe, right? We believe in the mission of Guardian Angels, and we know that the Muttstrut is— that the dogs that we fund through the Muttstrut are saving lives every day. And if you can be a part of something that powerful. And as it says, together we unleash the power to heal, um, is the, um, is the motto at Guardian Angels, and we believe that. So, um, this is the least we can do, and we're looking forward to doing it again.

Well, you know what, thank you both. Thank you, Chris, and thank you, Mike, for not only serving our country but giving back paying it forward, saving lives. Thank you so very much, and thank you for taking time to be with us today.

It was my pleasure.

Okay, so I end every show with a quote, and today this quote, which is anonymous, so true though, and it is this: America without her soldiers would be like God without his angels. This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters, at voiceamerica.com. Talk to you all next Tuesday.

Voice America We would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America variety channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.