Veterans K9 Solutions

Jerry Lyda, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, found dog training to be therapeutic - he’s been doing it for more than 50 years. In 2011, Veterans K9 Solutions (VK9S) was born, with the help of his son Jay, in response to a call for help from some fellow veterans with their for-profit dog training business. VK9S was planned as a volunteer-run organization, providing free service dog training to disabled veterans, involving the veterans in the training and bringing K9 and veterans together to form a veteran/K9 pair. Every year, VK9S successfully trains 30 of these pairs, helping them find their joy.

In 2021, Jerry reached out to Gateway because so many veterans needed his help and he needed more funding. Jerry had never applied for grants before and just wanted to keep serving his fellow veterans. After learning more about his Service Dog Training program, Gateway identified several strong potential funders and got to work! Since then, the grants won by Gateway have doubled VK9S’ annual revenue, enhancing the services and opportunities VK9S provides to its veterans.
In his own words, Jerry says that Gateway “helped me tremendously getting funds I otherwise could not have received because I did not know where to go or how to find funders locally. Each individual I have worked with at Gateway has been helpful, knowledgeable and been a pleasure to work with. They are able to take what VK9S is doing and put it on paper so funders can understand our important work. We could not have done what we are doing without Gateway.”

Jerry and his VK9S team can keep serving their fellow veterans while his Gateway team continues implementing an effective grant-seeking strategy.