In 2017 Brett Merchant lost his service dog to old age, and thus lost his ability to move about in his community. Kettle River Lions Club made inquiries with Lions Foundation of Canada Service Dogs and started the application process of acquiring a new seizure response dog.
Service dogs from Lions Foundation of Canada are completely free of charge to recipients and all expenses are paid for the recipient and a companion to travel and stay at the training centre in Oakville, Ontario for three weeks of bonding and training. All of the foundation’s expenses are covered by donations, and they receive no government grants.
Our Lions club was holding a meeting with the district governor on October 24, 2019 at the Mile 0 restaurant when we saw Brett and his service dog Carrie for the first time since he arrived home from his training. He gave an impromptu speech about his experience in Oakville and how much his life has changed in such a short time, as well as a demonstration of how Carrie will help him. It was awesome, most of us ladies had tears in our eyes. We are extremely happy that Brett has finally regained his community through his service dog. And we are proud of the Lions motto “WHERE THERE IS A NEED THERE IS A LION”.
