Tee It Up for the Troops is proud to support many wonderful veteran service organizations throughout the United States including those that provide service dogs for veterans.
The influence service dogs have in the daily life of veterans cannot be overstated as was shared recently by one Trauma Assistance Dog recipient:
“Many combat veterans don’t come home the same person they were when they left here to fight for our country. We leave part of ourselves in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan. My dog has given me a lot of my life back. We are always together and are best friends. I have been able to enjoy going out with my family and not have to worry about anything else around. [My dog] has given me hope that I thought was lost.”
Military service members, Veterans and their families are supported by countless organizations who acknowledge their sacrifices. Tee It Up for the Troops is honored to be featured in the Fisher House Patriot magazine as a top-tier veteran service organization! Click here to read the article from The Patriot magazine!
Tee It Up for the Troops not only supports Fisher House Foundation, we also support Fisher Houses at the local level by providing golf carts to be used by those staying at the homes. The golf carts have made a difference to patients and families who may have difficulty walking, or seek protection from inclement weather. The notes we get from the Fisher House managers mean so much knowing we are helping to make these families comfortable!
Thank YOU sponsors, donors and volunteers – it is because of YOU that this healing is happening…
From Drew Brandenburg: “I just wanted to let you all know he (Bogey) is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and you guys couldn’t have blessed me any better than by donating the funds (to K9s For Warriors) for Bogey. He has turned my world around and it’s only been 2 months.
“Without organizations like yours soldiers continue to fall and are never able to get back up. Thank you again for all you do and have done, not only for me but for all veterans you connect with.”
Tee It Up for the Troop has given a $7,500 grant to Camp Soaring Eagle for a portion of their Veteran’s Camp costs for November 2015. The Veteran’s Camp offers a tailored service for the men and women who have served for our nation through recreation and relief. The children of military parents are also able to find relief through this incredible camp. Children from the ages of 6 to 15 benefit from an environment of shared feelings and circumstances during the three-day weekend camp. They enjoy playing sports, fishing, horseback riding, arts and crafts, gaming, and archery among sharing stories and learning how to effectively respond to the needs of their parents.
The 9th Annual Tee It Up For The Troops fundraising golf event brings together more than 1,000 veterans, local celebrities, supporters and volunteers to honor and support our men and women in the military, our veterans and their families.
More than 100 veterans will play golf for free during the morning session, including injured servicemen from across the country who continue to use the game of golf for therapy and rehabilitation to help recover from their wounds suffered in service to our country, including Chad Pfeifer of Goodyear, Arizona, who lost his left leg in an IED explosion and is working on becoming the first amputee to win on the PGA or Web.com Tour.
The event includes a ceremony and donation of a specialized six-person golf cart to the Fisher House Foundation to be used as transportation for wounded veterans and their families at the Fisher House now under construction near Nashville, Tennessee.
WHO:
More than 100 veterans, including many wounded warriors Major General Rick Nash, Minnesota National Guard Adjutant General Major General David Elicerio, Commander, 34th Infantry Division Red Bulls U.S. Rep. John Kline, Ret. Marine Randall McDaniel, Former Minnesota Vikings great, Paul Molitor, Former Minnesota Twins great,Corey Koskie, Former Minnesota Twins great, Mike Morris, Former Minnesota Vikings great, and many others
WHEN:
Friday, September 6, 6:00 am – 8:00 p.m.
6:00 am Registration
7:00 am Morning Session Shotgun Start
9:30 am Press Conference – Golf Cart Donation to Fisher House
9:45 am Wounded Warrior Media Availability
11:30 am Ceremony, including recognition of the late Vince Flynn
12:30 pm Afternoon Session Shotgun Start
6:30 pm Dinner
WHERE:
Mendakota Country Club
2075 Mendakota Drive
Mendota Heights, MN 55120
On June 19, 2013, best-selling author Vince Flynn died after a three-year battle with prostate cancer. Vince was involved in Tee it up for the Troops since the early days and served on our Advisory Committee and as our National Spokesperson. His support and advocacy on behalf of all of the men and women who serve, and have served in our United States Military, will be dearly missed. We are thankful for his life and are blessed to have been able to call him a friend. Our thoughts and prayers remain with his wife, Lysa, and their three children, his parents Terry and Kathy, and his family and friends.
Tee it up for the Troops has been a partner and friend of PawPADs for three years, and we never forget to express our gratitude. As you know, the “PawPADs Difference” is that we use the value of the training and association with the dogs during training as therapeutic – sometimes healing – always inspiring tool while the dogs are in the journey from puppyhood to partnership. We built our Paw Corps Program on a donation from TIUFTT and your continuing support has helped us grow and “grow up.” We aren’t the biggest Service Dog organization on the Minnesota map, but I dare say we are the one with the most integrity and heart and guts! We are making a difference in lives through Paw Corps and all our programs and we are proud to have TIUFTT on our side.
Recently we placed two dogs (Kachina and Hania), which were trained by Veterans in the Paw Corps program as Diabetic Alert Dogs. Jill, whose 8 year old son, Nick, is partnered with Kachina, has told us that Kachina is “literally a life saver” for her son…alerting them in the middle of the night to Nicks dangerously plunging blood sugar levels. Hania has been partnered with Katie Stuber, a volatile diabetic whose blood sugar levels rocket and plunge with alarming and life threatening speed. Katie is the wife of Lt. Joe Stuber, a Minnesota National Guard leader who is preparing for his deployment in a few weeks to Afghanistan. Hania will be on guard over Katie’s health 24/7 while Lt. Stuber guards our freedom in Afghanistan. Lt. Stuber told me recently that If “she (Kachina) alerts just once while I’m gone, he will be worth it.” Hania, by the way, has alerted to Katie’s fluctuations dozens of times in the few short weeks he has been partnered with Katie!
How did TIUFTT make the difference in these three examples of many?
The Paw Corps veterans who helped train these dogs, Steve and Scott, still struggle with their PTSD and other issues, but both have told us their lives are immeasurably better for having become involved in this program.
We were able to place Hania with Lt. Stuber free of charge because of our relationship with TIUFTT. We feel that with Hania on the watch, Lt. Stuber will be more focused on his job, and perhaps be able to return home safely.
Darla J., another Paw Corps volunteer who has 5 deployments between herself and her husband with the Minnesota National Guard helped train Macy, who is living with and working with the veterans in the Hastings Veterans Home. Again, Darla has told us that her life is changed for her part in Paw Corps.
TIUFTT has helped enable PawPADs to feed the dogs, pay the heating bills, train the dogs, heal the dogs, and, sad to say, bury the Paw Corps mascot Maska (“Tank”). The dogs have helped change so many lives and we’ve only placed a few!
Written by: Jonathon Gordon, U.S. Marine working for the Warrior Canine Connection in Washington, D.C.
In today’s world everybody focuses on the negatives. Whether it is the media following all the negative news; people noticing the faults in everyone else; and in parenting, where wrong behavior doesn’t go unpunished and right behavior is seldom rewarded. Having a 5 year old daughter, I fell right into the trend. Little time was spent praising her for the things she did right, while most of my energy was focused on the negative things she did.
Far left: Rick Yount (Warrior Canine Connection Founder) with Freedom, Gil McMillan (Air Compassion for Veterans), Nancy Christopherson (Executive Director for Tee it up for the Troops), Rose and Dan Schadegg (TIUFTT sponsors) and Jonathan Gordon (kneeling) with Birdie. Picture taken at the Warrior Canine Connection program at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Washington, D.C
Fortunately, I was privileged with an internship, training future service dogs. Training a dog requires patience I never realized I could have. And while I was training the dogs, they were also training me, unknowingly at first, how to be a better parent. With training a dog, simple tasks are easy. Sit; down; stay; come; they are all very basic, while more advanced tasks such as opening a door or turning on or off a light are very time consuming and stressful on both dog and trainer.
Shaping the behavior of a dog as well as a child requires a constant presence, almost as if you had eyes in the back of your head, as well as consistent positive and negative reinforcement. Focusing on just the bad things pushes the bond needed away and reinforces negative behavior. Focusing on just the positives they tend to push boundaries, create their own limits and their own agendas while you are taken advantage of.
The dogs, as well as children can sense when they are in charge of a situation. You can’t make it personal, but at the same time you can’t lose. Again being patient and calm, making your commands firm, known, but again being unemotional is the key, and at times very difficult. Always ending on a positive note is key for the dog to learn and be enthusiastic about trying about the following day or next time the switch is presented.
The same idea applies to children. Each child is different and has their own motivation and agenda they work off of, so each child ultimately requires different techniques to get the appropriate response from. But with that, the same basic concepts apply. Finding something rewarding for them, and being a constant presence with the rewards as well as firm and fair with the punishments.
As I said before, in the beginning my parenting techniques were not very well established. My patience was low, and I rarely rewarded her for doing something right, but harped on her for what she would do wrong. A lot of it is a learned trait picked up from how I was parented, and though I have no problems with how I was raised, I believe there are always ways for things to be done better. I know the reactions I received as a child caused me to rebel a lot more than most kids, and I feared the same out of my daughter. Working with the dogs has slowly but surely molded my behavior into a more efficient way of parenting. Having the patience to work through difficult learning experiences and understanding how far a dog can be pushed can also be applied to my parenting techniques with my daughter.
Working with the service dogs has given me a common connection for teaching my daughter, and the dogs have trained me just as much if not more than I have trained them. There is still a lot of work and progress to be made for me, but the foundation is there, and continues to grow. It has come with mixed reviews, as I still don’t have it all right, but has brought out a new person in myself as well as my daughter. She has her set boundaries, knows what is expected of her, and loves the new found rewards she gets for doing it right.
On April 3rd the Tee it up for the Troops national office hosted a reception for our 2011 Flagship Event sponsors. The purpose of the reception was to recognize the invaluable contributions that many businesses and individuals have made to support the Tee it up for the Troops mission and our continued growth. Present at the reception were several active and retired military personnel as well as four Gold Star Families. The Gold Star families received special recognition during the reception as they each shared the name of their fallen soldier. After the brief presentation reception participants had the opportunity to mingle and share their stories with each other regarding how Tee it up for the Troops has made a difference in their lives. Listed below is one of the many poignant stories that was witnessed that evening.
Randy Schumacher and his business partner, James ‘JB’ Ball, of BC&I Wealth Management have been a business sponsor for the Annual TIUFTT Flagship Event since 2005. JB is also the founder of TIUFTT. After the presentation at the Sponsorship Reception, Schumacher approached a couple of the Gold Star Families to extend his thanks for the service and sacrifice of each families’ fallen soldier. He then went on to tell the Gold Star families about how he was first approached about being a sponsor for the first TIUFTT Flagship Event.
Schumacher shared, “JB came up to me one afternoon and said that he would like to put on a golf event to support our troops, and by the way, we will name it Tee it up for the Troops. At the time JB’s son, Tyler, was serving in Iraq. We all recognized that JB, his wife Laurie and other family members needed a positive outlet to channel their nervous energy regarding having a son serving in the Iraq military conflict.”
After a couple of years of many successful TIUFTT events, growth of the organization, and community engagement; Schumacher confessed that his and JB’s business partnership had become strained. Now years later, after having heard and witnessed firsthand the impact that TIUFTT is making in the lives of military veterans and their families, he fully recognizes why JB’s passion was to work nonstop to support the men and women that have given so much to support this great nation.
“We have worked through our differences and have moved forward. In the the grand scheme of things, it is about support for TIUFTT, an organization that is making a difference. There is no hardship compared to the sacrifices that soldiers and their families are making on a daily basis,” Schumacher said. The Gold Star Families have lost a son or daughter, but the memory of each of their fallen soldiers continues to live on through their stories that are shared at TIUFTT events and other programs that recognize and support our military.
How about you? Are you interested in being a sponsor for a Tee it up for the Troops event or provide volunteer support in some way? If yes, please contact our national office and we can provide you with additional opportunities about how you can be more involved with Tee it up for the Troops and contribute to our mission to honor, respect, remember and support our military veterans and their families.
The winner of the 2012 Victory Motorcycle Raffle was drawn on Friday, December 9th at 10 a.m. at the National Office for Tee it up for the Troops. The winner is Jon Vee from Fairbault, MN. Jon is a Golf Pro at Faribault Country Club and was very excited to be picked as the winner. Congratulations to Jon and thank you to everyone that purchased a raffle ticket in support of Tee it up for the Troops.
Tee it up for the Troops has been a partner and friend of PawPADs for three years, and we never forget to express our gratitude. As you know, the “PawPADs Difference” is that we use the value of the training and association with the dogs during training as therapeutic – sometimes healing – always inspiring tool while the dogs are in the journey from puppyhood to partnership. We built our Paw Corps Program on a donation from TIUFTT and your continuing support has helped us grow and “grow up.” We aren’t the biggest Service Dog organization on the Minnesota map, but I dare say we are the one with the most integrity and heart and guts! We are making a difference in lives through Paw Corps and all our programs and we are proud to have TIUFTT on our side.
