Veterans Moving Forward: The best thanks is providing service in return


Service Dog in Training Finn poses for his official photograph.

As featured in The Business Voice, June 2018.

We remember our nation’s fallen heroes, thank those who serve or have served, try to never take for granted the freedoms bestowed upon us by the efforts of our military, but sometimes more is needed. That’s where organizations like Veterans Moving Forward come in. Veterans Moving Forward trains and places service dogs with veterans with disabilities of any kind; physical, mental, or emotional. The Dulles-based nonprofit was launched in 2010 by Karen Jeffries, who served more than two decades in the Navy, after seeing the profound affect a service dog had on the emotional well-being of her husband, a veteran suffering from depression and anxiety.

Veterans Moving Forward has adopted a very comprehensive screening process for veteran applicants as well as in canine service training and takes special pains to ensure the best possible match.

“We make it our mission to ensure the absolute best training on the highest quality dogs so that we can provide them to the veterans with the most need,” said the organization’s Executive Director and Marine, JP Stevens.

“Our organization includes a medical board and a canine team,” explained Nicholas Dale, Director of Business Development and member of the medical board for Veterans Moving Forward. “We have a very rigorous pipeline and more than 110 veterans have come through it.”

Dale went on to clarify that not every applicant will receive a service dog, but that the organization does everything it can to serve the needs of each veteran and improve their chances of qualifying for a service dog.

Veterans Moving Forward views the dogs it’s trained and the veterans it helps as family and, just like family, the relationship is ongoing.

“We never lose a dog,” said Stevens, “we gain a Veteran with each match.”

The organization maintains ownership of each dog it trains for three years after placement to ensure it’s made a proper match, that the animal is being treated well, and is further trained for any changing needs of the veteran.

A veteran welcomes Service Dog King home after a training session.

“We accept veteran applicants from any era, with any type of disability and we pair them mindfully,” noted Stevens. “The first time you have to pull a dog because you made a bad decision,” he continued solemnly, “you make sure you never have to do that again.”

While they take screening, training, and match-making very seriously, the Veterans Moving Forward team spends a lot of time enjoying the benefits of having playful puppies around their office and facility on a daily basis. In fact, one visit to its primary location will convince anyone how incredibly therapeutic dogs can be.

Throw in the fact that some of these dogs are trained to do laundry and detect migraines before they strike, and you can’t help but to be in awe.

“The results speak for themselves,” offered Dale proudly, who went on to tell the story of one veteran whose daily routine included taking a total of two dozen different medications. After just two or three months with one of the Veterans Moving Forward-trained service dogs, the veteran’s health had improved so dramatically that he needed just two of the medications.

Moving forward themselves, Veterans Moving Forward is continually looking for volunteers for their Puppy Raising and Puppy Sitting programs, as well as new organizational donors and sponsors.

To learn more about Veterans Moving Forward, please visit www.VetsFwd.org.


Jennifer E. Goldman, a GMU School of Management graduate, has been a northern Virginia resident for more than 30 years and is currently President of Resonance, LLC, a community and government relations firm located near Gainesville.

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