COMMUNITY
Page 12 - November 13, 2013
Morgan Hill Life - www.MorganHillLife.com
The Bigger Picture
Veterans receive help from Operation Freedom Paws
There were few dry eyes in Morgan Hill’s downtown Granada Theater Sunday afternoon during the
Poppy Jasper Film Festival’s screening of “Honor
Flight,” a documentary movie about World War II
veterans. My own eyes started to tear up listening to
one Marine veteran describing the horrors of American combat to take control of the Pacific island of
MON
TUES
WED
THURS
•
•
•
•
Football – Happy Hour 4-7 p.m.
$1 Taco – Happy Hour 4-7 p.m.
$1 Taco – All Beer $2.50 All Day
Happy Hour 4-7 p.m; D.J.
8O’s Throwback – 9-11 p.m.
Many Drink Specials
FRI • Happy Hour 4-7 p.m.; D.J. or Band
SAT • Happy Hour 4-7 p.m.; D.J. or Band
SUN • Open at 10 a.m.; Happy Hour All Day
12/31 starts 9pm
New Year's Eve Party
with
Coming
January 2014
CD Release Party
Join us on
for upcoming events: Champs Bar Morgan Hill
408-779-8226
Open 7 days/week
17330 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill
Iwo Jima from the Japanese.
Following the showing of the 2012
film, Army veteran Mary Cortani,
the founder of the Gilroy-based
nonprofit organization Operation
Marty Cheek
Freedom Paws, spoke to the audience about the struggles that many
veterans face as a result of their service to our country. The wounds are both physical and psychological.
As weapons technology and modern medicine have
advanced, Cortani said, we no longer have the high
number of service people killed in combat and the low
injured numbers of battle survivors. We have lower
rates of those killed in action (compared to the two
world wars, Korean and Vietnam), but an increasingly
higher number of service people injured or psychologically impaired. And that means America is seeing ever
more veterans who struggle with everyday life.
Operation Freedom Paws’ mission is to help our
local veterans by matching them with service dogs
that have been rescued from animal shelters. The
dogs and veterans go through a 40-week training
program to help the vets with difficulties ranging
from mobility impairment due to injuries to psychiatric challenges such as post-traumatic stress
disorder.
About 900,000 American veterans are coming
home from wars with physical and mental injuries,
Cortani said. And a lot of the psychological traumas
for many returning from combat zones abroad won’t
appear until years from now. These traumas not only
impact the quality of life for the vets but also their
families.
The dog-matching program is free to the 144 veteran clients that Operation Freedom Paws serves. That
Photo by Marty Cheek
Sgt. First Class Eddie Colis, left, and Sgt. Carl
Schultz, center, stand at attention as Vietnam
veteran Eddie Bowers raises the American flag
during Monday’s Veterans Day celebration.
means this worthy nonprofit organization requires
support from the South Valley community. If you want
to honor vets beyond putting up a flag on Veterans Day
or Memorial Day, consider donating to Operation Freedom Paws and help a veteran who helped our nation.
For more information, visit www.operationfreedompaws.org.