My Nonprofit Reviews

I wanted to stop by and leave a review on my family’s wonderful experience with SPCA International. My husband has been in the military pushing a total of almost 15 years. Originally serving just about 5 in the Navy and reenlisting into the Army after I (his wife) was diagnosed with an incurable, incredibly difficult disease called Lupus. We knew do to my history with two bouts of cancer at just 21, that insurance would be nearly impossible to get and he has always loved and been proud to be in the military. We had mostly been stationed on the southern side of the US and most moving adventures as a family were easily accessible by car. This is until getting orders just about five months ago now to Hawaii. After the initial excitement wore off, we realized that we have what one might consider a "not normal" sized dog(s.) WE have one full blooded female Great Dane named Sylvia and a female half Black Lab/half Great Dane named Lovely and no clue on the difficulties of getting any sized animal into Hawaii were. Those that have made this move may be laughing now remembering the hoops required by Hawaii for one to jump through in order to get your regularly healthy and up to date medically animal into that state. They require the normal vaccinations, etc but they also require things like 300 dollar blood tests for rabies that starts a four month countdown to when your animal can enter the state. Followed by very rigorous paperwork, health checks, fees for getting direct release of your animal after arriving, etc. After all is said and done we will have (before the actual flights) have spent almost 3000 dollars. With my health being the way it is I need to see two different types of specialty doctors monthly . We could not afford everything at once and I’ve been forced to fly back and forth to the mainland to receive treatment and wait for our dogs to get through the four month waiting period. When we started looking at flights we were excited to see options for flat rates in the $200 range and thought finally we’d receive a financial break. After making all the calls we realized when your dog’s weighs 150 pounds or more, with a giant sized crate, and a giant sized puppy you get a GIANT sized bills in the quadruple digits. Haha. WE found out about this incredible program run by the SPCA by other reviews and thought if we could just by chance get noticed by them maybe we could finally be together as a family. Going through five deployments in just 13 years, we were exhausted with constantly being apart. We sent a letter and literally heard from someone the next morning, by the end of the week we were filling out official paperwork and sending documentation and by the next week being told that we were approved for a grant that is enough to cover all but a few dollars of both our girls’ flights. We can’t say enough about this amazing program . So many people talk about how they are thankful for the protection of the US Military or for the part the play in our countries day to day affairs, but so very few actually show that appreciation with flesh on. Thank you for EVERYTHING that this organization has done, and in particular thank you to Terri who went above and beyond and simplified the process for me. I can’t wait until we are back in a place where we can give back to this program!! I’ll be posting this to my Facebook and encouraging my friends and family and military family to give back to this incredible charitable organization! Thank you again from Dustin, Crystal, Lolita, and Sylvie Knopp.
Ps Pictures to come of the reuniting of our family!