An unlikely meeting or by design?
Matt Weitz was a sniper team leader in the US Army. After serving our country and two combat tours in Iraq Matt struggled with the debilitating effects of Post Traumatic Stress (PTS). Prescribed medications for his disability only led to a fight with substance abuse that lasted 4 years. One day Matt took himself to rehab hoping for a new life. Upon his return, he began looking into a new form of help he heard about while in rehab. A service dog. But time after time, Matt's quest for a dog was rejected by distant organizations due to his history with substance abuse. One day, while shopping at the local hardware store, he met Adam Keith, a local businessman who owned not only the hardware store but a local dog kennel and had been professionally training hunting retrievers for over 15 years. Matt mentioned the reason he was looking to buy a dog and without hesitation, Adam offered him one of his Labrador puppies. While not the German Shepard he was looking for, this incredible little puppy didn't disappoint. Matt was introduced to his new partner and the only name that came to mind was Freedom. Labeled with a humbling new name, Freedom and Matt were quickly becoming inseparable. On the second night, 8 week old Freedom climbed onto Matt's bed and woke him from a nightmare. After reporting this to Adam, the two knew they wanted to help more struggling veterans. Trying to find direction, Adam sent out an email to his Kennel customers to see what resources were available. A flood of responses poured back in and soon it was obvious that God had a much bigger plan than either of them had imagined. In the fall of 2014, Operation Freedom Dogs (OFD) was born. The official start date of OFD is March 26 in memory of a man Matt served with in Bco 1/27 , Greg Rundell who was lost in combat in Iraq. The memory of Greg and so many others will never be forgotten as we seek to lift up those who were able to come home only to suffer from very real but hidden wounds.
Since the fall of 2014, much research has gone into building OFD and we are only getting started! The more we learned, the more we realized we needed to learn. This all-volunteer organization quickly obtained its 501c3 nonprofit status and formed a board of directors to guide it. With some incredibly talented people who are well established in the Chattanooga area, the opportunity to help struggling veterans suffering from the effects of war has never been greater. With new sponsorship from industry giant US Xpress Trucking in 2017, the ability to impact our veteran and civilian communities has suddenly become an obtainable dream! Please consider supporting OFD as we scale up in 2018 to help a long waiting list of struggling Veterans
