Light Up To Live Spring 2023 News & Updates

Pictured above celebrating together at the 2022 Light Up To Live Clay Shoot at Elm Fork Shooting Sports is (left to right) Veteran T. Boore & his service dog Star, Mary Staffeld, Roll Call of North Texas, WWII Veteran Don Graves, Randall Reed, Veteran Tosha Andrade & her service dog Lincoln, Terri Tackett, and Tom Tackett of Patriotic Service Dog Foundation. Light Up To Live donated the custom canine transport van.

The 2023 Fundraising Events are Here!

Join us October 12th and 13th for two incredible events supporting our mission, providing polychromatic light therapy systems, and funding highly trained service dogs for our Veterans living with Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Pain, and adaptive needs.

Introducing Marcus Capone

We are honored to have for this year’s keynote speaker, Marcus Capone, Veteran Navy SEAL, chairman, and co-founder of the VETS Foundation: Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions.

Light Up To Live Foundation is forging ahead with a new partnership in support of V.E.T.S. (Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions). Founded by Marcus and Amber Capone, they are powerful advocates for the use of psychedelic drug therapy for Veterans struggling with PTS and suicidal thoughts. Marcus’s military background and personal story of recovery is fascinating!

Light Up To Live’s 2023 goal is to raise at least $50,000 toward this therapy in an effort to match the personal donation made by the Randall Reed family. Together, we could fund as many as 20 Veterans in a therapy program.

Learn more about the Capone’s work at www.VetSolutions.org.

Adaptive Training Foundation Class 26

Meet the graduates of Class 26 from the Adaptive Training Foundation in Carrollton, TX.  We are proud to announce that so far in 2023, Light Up To Live Foundation approved and donated 15 Polychromatic light therapy systems to military Veterans, 10 of whom are graduates of the program. Thank you to our sponsors for making this possible!

Kelly is a German Shepherd donated to us by a local breeder close to the PDSF. He is named after a childhood dog that rescued his sponsor, David LaRue, under unusual circumstances. Kelly is training at the PDSF ranch, and after the initial temperament evaluation is currently working on his basic obedience. He is a “big gorgeous love bug.”

Liberty is a six-month-old yellow Labrador Retriever training with a puppy raiser at Texas A&M. Liberty loves her ball and squeaky toys and plays with them non-stop before taking a nap. She has good house manners and is very responsible. She is being trained at Patriot PAWS and is sponsored by Boots for Troops.

Knox is a handsome male Labrador Retriever born in December 2022. He will work on over 50 basic commands during his training at Patriot PAWS. He is being sponsored by Ethos employees.

Light Up To Live Proudly Supports Patriot PAWS Service Dogs in Rockwall, TX

The Light Up To Live Foundation is elated to join forces with Patriot PAWS.

With the support of Light Up To Live donors and partnerships like Patriot PAWS, the Foundation has helped improve the lives of Veterans by funding service dog training and supportive care. It is through Patriot PAWS’ partnerships, ongoing service projects, and the valuable resources of their close-knit community of volunteers and professional trainers who work alongside Veterans in developing lasting and meaningful bonds with dogs to alleviate suffering and enrich their lives.

Our combined forces provide military Veterans with adaptive needs with skilled service dogs of the highest quality and at no cost to the Veteran to help with their physical and emotional independence.

Patriot PAWS has an outreach program at Texas A&M University in College Station. The students enrolled in this program work with Patriot Paws to assist in the socialization, training, and raising of service dogs to assist Veterans with adaptive needs.

A special thank you to Ethos employees and Boots for Troops for helping us to fund the training cost of Liberty and Knox this year at Patriot PAWS.

Learn more at PatriotPAWS.org.

Light Up To Live Proudly Supports the Patriotic Service Dog Foundation in Murietta, CA.

Tom Tackett, President of the Patriotic Service Dog Foundation, has been a behaviorist and competition dog trainer based in Orange County, CA, since 1977.

The Light Up To Live Foundation and donors have funded nine service dogs from 2018-2022. In 2023 we are on track to support three other dogs through Patriotic Service Dog Foundation.

In 2022, Light Up To Live funded a service dog transport van for PDSF to use for regular transport and to safely evacuate the service dogs in case of emergencies like fires, floods, and earthquakes.

Below is a list of all the service dogs that have been sponsored through Light Up To Live Foundation and our partners. 

To The Rescue with Tommy Habeeb

Light Up To Live is proud to be featured in the television canine rescue series To The Rescue produced by our friend and fellow Texan Tommy Habeeb. It aired February 12 of this year on the Great American Family Network and included an interview with Randall Reed and highlights about Light Up To Live.

Light Up to Live Foundation founder and president, Randall Reed, announced that Maureen Ellis has been promoted to Executive Director of the foundation. “Maureen has done an outstanding job helping direct the operations and fundraising events at Light Up To Live over the past four years. She does all the day-to-day work required to grow relationships with our sponsors and with our charitable partners who support our mission of assisting military Veterans living with Post-Traumatic Stress, Brain Trauma, Pain, and Depression.”

With her assistance, our organization is recognized by CANDID as a Platinum status charity for its excellent expense-to-programming ratio and the transparency of its finances. Thank you, Maureen!