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THE RANCHO SANTA FE NEWS
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MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 11, N0. 19
SEPT. 18, 2015
Leisa Tilley-Grajek is the founding president of K9 Guardians, Inc., a nonprofit that was established in January 2015. Courtesy photo
New nonprofit trains canines for a cause By Christina Macone-Greene
‘PAW’-DLING OUT After Hurricane Linda brought some fun waves for human surfers over the week, on Sunday, it was the dogs’ turn to catch waves at Del Mar’s Dog Beach during the 10th annual Surf Dog Surf-a-Thon.The annual event helps raise funds for rescue pets at the Helen Woodward Animal Center. Above: Surf dog Turbo makes it look easy riding a wave in the finals. Photo by Tony Cagala
RSF Education Foundation readies for new school year By Christina Macone-Greene
RANCHO SANTA FE — A new school year at R. Roger Rowe School means new opportunities for the students. Through the fundraising efforts of the Rancho Santa Fe Education Foundation, children are afforded enriching prospects yearround. In addition to providing children with extraordinary education, for the new school year, their 2015-16 Annual Giving Campaign is steadfast in trying to raise $1.3 million while trying to achieve the goal of having total parent participation. “Through fundraising and the coordination of parent volunteers, the Education Foundation allows the RSF School District to provide an extraordinary education to the students. The funds raised help to keep class sizes small, allow for small group focus and differentiated levels in almost every subject,” said Barbara Carson Edwards, Rancho Santa Fe District Education Foundation development director. “Parent volunteers coordinate and assist in a wide variety of enrichment programs, including award winning athletics, music and robotics, and popular activities such as Career Expo, International Festival, Ocean Week and Science Discovery Day.” According to Edwards, every R. Roger Rowe school parent is part of the Education Foundation just by being a member of the school community. On average, parent volunteers help champion or support nearly 30 foundation-sponsored annual school events. “Additional parent volunteer efforts occur throughout the year in many other extras like athletics, music, drama, robotics and lunch clubs like Chess and gardening,” she said. “We can always use more volunteers.”
Barbara Carson Edwards is development director of the Rancho Santa Fe District Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that gives parents and members of the community an avenue to help invest in the school district in an array of avenues such as endowment campaigns, annual giving and volunteering. Courtesy photo
The RSF Education Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. It gives parents and members of the community an avenue to help invest in the school district in an array of avenues such as endowment campaigns, annual giving and volunteering. Edwards explained that in 1978, the passage of California Proposition 13 capped property taxes for all pre-
1978 homeowners at one percent of full cash value at the time of acquisition. “This led to a decline in education funding, making private funding necessary to maintain the small class sizes, focused academics and robust enrichment programing that RSF TURN TO FOUNDATION ON A18
REGION — For those who are dog lovers, they know how a canine can make one feel more affectionate and loyal and can understand the therapeutic benefits they bring to someone’s life. This relationship can become deeply rooted when an animal is trained to be a service dog to help one either with mobility and/or emotional challenges. Leisa Tilley-Grajek is the founding president of K9 Guardians, Inc., a nonprofit that was established in January 2015. While her nonprofit has recently emerged, Tilley-Grajek is no stranger to canines. She has bred and raised German shepherd puppies for more than 10 years. K9 Guardians is based in Fallbrook. Before establishing her own nonprofit, she said, she was already involved with canine philanthropic efforts. Tilley-Grajek provided disabled veterans with one of her puppies and then referred them to work with organizations for service dog training, and ultimately, qualification. After all this time, her nonprofit vision has now come to fruition. “K9 Guardians is a nonprofit organization focused on reaching out to our disabled veterans that are in need. We deal with veterans diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and physical disabilities. Our goal is to provide assistance to our veterans through the service and companionship of these magnificent K9 Guardians,” Tilley-Grajek said. “We raise our puppies from birth in a home environment performing age appropriate stimulus and tasks. As the puppy grows and matures, more tasks
and training are added.” Tilley-Grajek went on to say that during the process, they get the veteran involved as early on as possible. She has had veterans even visit puppies while they are still in the whelping box which is always a great sight to see. “We have witnessed that involving the veteran in the training process can be both a very positive, healing experience as well as help in the recovery,” she said. From all the nonprofits Tilley-Grajek could have established she was drawn to service dogs because of the great need. She described the numbers as shocking, with as many as 30 percent of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from some form of PTSD. According to Tilley-Grajek, thousands of veterans are also struggling from TBI among other disabilities. “Most staggering is that 22 veterans commit suicide each day,” she said. “Due to such a significant backlog of veterans in need of service dogs, K9 Guardians was formed to team more service dogs with more veterans. There is no cost to the veteran.” Since the nonprofit’s inception, K9 Guardians has already placed two of its dogs with someone in need. Currently, they have five teams in training. “Our goal is to place 22 our first year to coincide with ‘22 A Day,’ the number of veterans that commit suicide every day,” she said. “Our mission is to reach out and save lives.” To learn more about K9 Guardians including volunteer opportunities, financial support and guest speaking engagements, visit k9guardians.org, call (844) 594-8273, or email fetch@k9guardians.org.