Episode 12 – Meet Heroes Wildlife Adventures, a non-profit with a big heart for veterans

Transcription:

Kim Cole

Hi everyone and thanks for joining us today. I’m Kim Cole, president of the Community Foundation, Morgan County and with me today is a local husband-wife team for helping veterans and first responders all across this nation. They provide service dogs to help with PTSD, other mental health issues, they organize hunting, fishing trips to give purpose, all in an effort to reduce suicides and this is working. Let me introduce Otis and D.P. and they have brought their own personal service dog, Draven. So welcome.

 

Otis Pugh & Deanna Pugh

Thank you.

Kim Cole

Thank you for coming. I’m sure everybody wants to hear first about the star of this podcast and that would be Draven.  

Otis Pugh

So this is my boy Draven. We got him when he was four weeks old. He actually picked me when he was four weeks old and that’s kind of the model that we use for service dogs. We take a veteran and their family to a puppy place that’s got you know several pups there and my wife is an AKC evaluator, so she’ll evaluate the pups, say five out of eight of them test well. Then we set the veteran and their family in a chair like that we are sitting here and we’ll release the pups over there. At first all five may come to you but after about ten minutes only one it’s going to stay with the family and that’s how we tell them you just got that’s going to be your service dog. So, Draven, there was three litters, twelve week old, nine week old and four week old. The first two didn’t even know I was in the room. They brought Draven out and he picked me right away. We started training when he was six weeks old and I didn’t know until he was eight weeks old that he was born on Veterans Day. So he’ll be four years old on Veterans Day this year. We’ve been doing a lot with him.

Deanna Pugh

And when he’s not working for Otis he comes and sits by me.

Kim Cole

Oh no doubt.

Deanna Pugh

So, I’m excited.

Kim Cole

No doubt. So I know everybody’s going to want to hear a little bit about your background so Dee ladies first. Tell me about your background. Tell me how you all met and then we’ll get to Otis.

Deanna Pugh

So, I’m Deanna Pugh and graduated from Martinsville High School. That is where we met and we got married as soon as Otis, as soon as I graduated. Otis was out of basic, and AIT and my grandpa said if it’s true love don’t get married. He’ll be here when you get back from Germany and I was like oh no. So, 38 years later here we are.

Kim Cole

Well, that’s fantastic. And you yourself did not, you weren’t military, but you worked for the military as contractor, correct?

Deanna Pugh

I was a federal employee working for the military.

Kim Cole

Yeah okay.

Deanna Pugh

So, I was a GS-11 federal technician on the civilian side.

Kim Cole

Great.

Deanna Pugh

And I helped with the medical side. I was a health promotion officer for the entire state of Indiana for the National Guard.

Kim Cole

That’s fantastic. All right Otis.

Otis Pugh

So I joined the Army right out of high school. I did 28 years active duty. I retired as a command sergeant major E-9. I did a deployment to Iraq. I was a, believe it or not, I was a drill sergeant for three years. I was a recruiter for five years. She went with us, went with me everywhere we went. Germany. We spent three years over in Europe and we’ve been to about every state with the military.

Otis Pugh & Deanna Pugh

That was 2012.

Deanna Pugh

Okay, but he didn’t get his dog until about 2014 or 15. But our daughter is a surgical nurse at the VA Hospital.

Kim Cole

Okay, so the whole family has touched service in this country. So, all right, let’s talk about Hero’s Wildlife Adventure. The tragedy happened in your family, and your son got the service dog and of course you went through the frustration of him having to wait. So, when did you say, and how did you start it? Tell us about that.

Otis Pugh

So we started doing this probably six years ago with her paycheck and we started out just doing a little hunting and fishing trips and we were able to get the Elks Lodge there in Martinsville to help us a little bit. So, we actually got a couple service dogs going and then Angie Turley actually was the big boost for us. She invited us out to a golf outing to bring Draven, and I built this AR-15 golf ball launcher. So, I thought I was helping out with the golf outing and at the end of the golf outing she gave us a $10,000 check that the whole outing was for us to get a 501c3 started. So, she sponsored our first dog. She sponsored the very first dog, Megan Smith, who has Michter, which is a German Shepherd, and just doing wonderful. She says, I’m your poster child of this is what it can do. So Megan was living with her parents in the basement in Clarksville, Tennessee and we got her Michter right away, like within three days of meeting her. We brought her up here and got her a pup and now she’s in Kentucky and she has a job.

She finished her degree. Michter works with her every day. So, it’s amazing what these guys can do for you and we’re just today are doing our 70th service dog today.

Kim Cole

That is unreal and I know when I met you all last year, you had several stories, but one in particular that I still get teary-eyed about is the gentleman that was driving the truck in Colorado. So, tell the viewers about that.

Otis Pugh

Okay, so not everybody can get a service dog because it’s a 10-to-15-year commitment. So, we do the hunting, the fishing, the beekeeping and all that on top of service dogs. So, we were doing a little fishing tournament, bass tournament at Lake Monroe. We have another one coming up on October the 4th, by the way. We had 30 boaters, bass fishermen, and so we got 30 veterans. One of the veterans dropped off, gave me a name of another veteran. I called him and said, hey, can you come to the bass tournament? I got your name from the guy that gave it to me. And he goes, well, I’m in the Rocky Mountains. I’m a truck driver. And I said, well, it’s not this weekend. It’s two weeks from now. He goes, oh, okay, I’ll be there. So, he shows up. His boat wins first place. He won the 50-50 raffle and then he told us at the end that he was getting ready to drive his truck off the mountain and had just said a prayer, showed me a sign, and the phone rang. It was me. And now he’s went on deer hunts, turkey hunts. He’s helping other veterans do all those things. And so, you know, one day a fishing can save a life.

Kim Cole

That’s very incredible. Yeah. That story, like I said, when I first met you, that story touched me. And I thought it’s just because I’m a big baby that I was teary-eyed about it. But when your nonprofit, Heroes Wildlife Adventures, was selected by Guys Who Give, our men’s giving circle, when you were selected to get up and pitch, you told that story. And I saw several men in the room wiping their eyes. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Yeah, there was not a dry eye in the place. And understandably, you all won the grant that night of $18,000.

Otis Pugh

So, if you’re not one of the Guys Who Give, you need to join because it’s an amazing thing that we’re doing. It’s $100 to join. It’s $100 a quarter. So, $500 a year, we meet once a quarter. They pick three names, three 501c3s that service Morgan County. You get five minutes. Trust me, you’re on a timer. You get five minutes to do your spiel, two minutes of questions and answers.

Kim Cole

If you had more time, you could work for the foundation. He’s doing a better job than me.

Otis Pugh

Join. Yes. And we pick an organization that night and they cut a check that night for you.

Kim Cole

A winner every quarter. So how did you all spend the $18,000?

Otis Pugh

So, we’re still spending it. Like I said, we just were able to do our 70. We’re doing our 70th dog today. And believe it or not, $18,000 is like one-third of our yearly budget. So, it’s going to help tremendously. We’re going to be able to help so many more folks. I mean, we’ve got nine veterans going out west this year on elk and antelope and mule deer hunts. So, you know, that’s going to help with those things. But we’re going to spend that money here in Morgan County on service dogs. And we do the deer hunts, the turkey hunts and all that.

Deanna Pugh

And that’s local.

Kim Cole

AThat’s fantastic. And I know that a big fundraiser you have coming up is the golf outing. Let’s talk about that.

Deanna Pugh

So, our golf outing is on 9-11. And this year we are doing an a.m. and a p.m. time. But we still need sponsors. We’re always open for sponsors. Moyer Technology is our platinum sponsor. They’re out of Indianapolis. Huge, huge asset to us. So, shout out to Moyer Technologies. And so, like I said, we have our a.m. and p.m. times. We also have a local, just a person who has created. Matt O’Neill has made a guitar for us. He’s woodgraved stuff in it. Otis and I had the opportunity to meet Gary Sinise. So, we took the guitar to Atterbury, was able to go to the Green Room, had Gary Sinise sign the guitar. Otis and my grandson took the guitar up to a World War II veteran who just turned 100 years old and he signed the guitar. And he, Gerald, they call him Jerry, he actually named it the Freedom Guitar. So, the guitar is now known as the Freedom Guitar. Matt then took the guitar to Sammy L. Davis and has Sammy Davis sign it. So, the guitar will be for auction. It’s not a raffle. It will be an auction. I’m not sure if we’re going to do a live auction or if we’re going to do a silent auction. So, we’re undecided on how that is since we have an a.m. and a p.m. t-time.

Otis Pugh

Right. But every veteran and first responder that shows up at our 9-11 event gets to sign the guitar.

Deanna Pugh

So, once it’s auctioned off.

Kim Cole

I hope that’s a big guitar.

Deanna Pugh

It’s so yeah. So, everybody, they’ll turn it over, they’ll be able to sign the back of it. Yeah. And there’s just enough room for their signature, not a like a huge signature. And then every veteran and first responder, so EMT, nurse, police officer, firefighter, will be able to sign the back of it. And then whoever wins the guitar, Matt is going to take it back and seal everything up.

Kim Cole

That’s fantastic. So let me tell our viewers how they can help with your fantastic organization. Now that they’ve won, guys who give, they can’t win for two more years. But ladies, 100 Women Who Care, their nonprofit can still be nominated and selected and win the ladies purse, which at the last 100 Women Who Care, the purse was, the grant, winning grant was over $30,000. So, we, our membership numbers are what drive the amount of the grants. So, ladies, please join. Please nominate your favorite nonprofit, including Heroes Wildlife Adventures. Also go to their, get involved with their golf outing. I’m sure that even if you don’t golf, I’m sure you need volunteers.

We need volunteers. We need food sponsors, which are $500, beverage sponsors, $500. Set up at a hole is $450 for all day.

Kim Cole

So now where is the golf outing?

Otis Pugh & Deanna Pugh

Martinsville, Foxcliff.

Kim Cole

So Foxcliff this year. And I know you’re going to be there with this bazooka thing that shoots golf balls.

Otis Pugh

It shoots about 350 to 400 yards. It’s a, it’s a real AR-15. It shoots blanks and you put an adapter on it and it launches golf balls.

Kim Cole

I think I might have to try it. Can I do it?

Otis Pugh

Yeah, Absolutely

Kim Cole

Oh my gosh, I might have to do that.

Kim Cole

Okay. So go to cfmconline.org