You've followed our progress over the last couple of years and the successes of our service dogs and veterans; Now we want to share with you an important milestone for Warriors' Best Friend, one that is sure to have a tremendous impact upon many lives in the near and distant future.
Early last year, Joe, Warriors' Best Friend's President began the search for a place Warriors' Best Friend could call home. After months of fruitless searching, Joe realized that the answer might very well be in his very own backyard--so to speak.
On the northern skirts of Liberty, Missouri, sits 65 acers of beautiful land replete with big trees and peaceful ponds--land that had been in Joe's family since the Civil War. On this land resided an old one bedroom house with no electricity or running water that once had been inhabited by his grandmother. This, he thought, could be converted and used for office spaces as well as a place to welcome veterans, volunteers, and visitors. A few hundred feet away sat an old, abandoned, two story barn--This, he imagined could be converted into a kenneling and training unit.
Joe knew that the beauty, peace, and vastness of the land made it the perfect home for our dogs-in-training, a great place for volunteers to work, and a tranquil environment for veterans--but building practically from scratch would be a large undertaking.
Fortunately, WBF soon realized that it had the support of the Home Depot Foundation and several other local companies to make this dream a reality. After receiving a grant from the Home Depot Foundation to purchase supplies for the construction in August of 2015, building on the new facility began. Over the course of a year companies including, Lutjen, Inc., CM Mose & Son, Robertson, Plumbing, MFA Oil, Anderson Windows, and The Kansas City Carpenter's, Flooring, and Bricklayer's Union donated materials and their talents to helping WBF build their very own service dog training facility!
In September 2016, after almost a year of construction, building was completed! Warriors' Best Friend hosted a Grand Opening in October to thank all of the sponsors for their incredible gift to the organization and for the difference in so many homeless pets and wounded soldiers lives they made possible in the years to come.
With grants from the Petfinder and Grainger Foundations, Warriors' Best Friend purchased seven top of the line kennels--the very best for our dogs in training.
We are so excited to share this news with you and are looking forward to what 2017 has in store. The building of our very own service dog training facility has increased WBF's capacity to kennel and train more dogs as well as provide a great environment for our volunteers to help with the care of WBF's service dogs--walking and supervising play groups. The facility will allow WBF to dream bigger and grow over the years in order to help many more homeless dogs and veterans. If you are interested in volunteering please submit a volunteer application located on the site under "support," or feel free to contact Samantha, WBF's Development Director, at (816) 809-2058 with any questions!
