Britnee Kinard is the type of person who doesn’t take no for an answer, but also doesn’t say no whenever she can help it. Barely a year into their marriage, Sergeant Hamilton Kinard received a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Hamilton served in the U.S. Army and National Guard for more than 20 years and sustained injuries in 2005 when a bomb directly hit his unit. He was medically and honorably discharged in 2010. As Britnee soon came to realize, Hamilton needed a service dog, but as simple as that sounds, it wasn’t easy to get one then and it still isn’t now, though she and her husband have set out to change that.
“I was 28,” says Britnee. “We were newlyweds and had a baby. My husband would forget things. Other episodes were signs something was wrong. In 2013, Veterans Affairs told me he needed a service animal. I couldn’t find much information about it. Finally, I found someone, did an application and was told Gunner [a Great Pyrenees] would cost $25,000. I thought the VA would cover it, but they didn’t.”
Went after the VA
“I went after the VA, testifying in front of Congress. After 18 months, I won. They paid all the dog’s expenses. At that time, from 2006, the VA had issued only 206 dogs and 100 percent were for seeing-eye dogs. Gunner was the first TBI dog in the southeast coastal region.”
Not long after, a veteran friend couldn’t pay his veterinarian bills, so the vet refused to release his service dog—and he took his own life. “My husband and I asked ourselves, ‘How can we help?’ Let’s start an organization that covers money for vet bills,” says Britnee. “So people could keep their service dogs. That’s originally how we started.”
Founded the SD Gunner Fund
The couple, who live in Georgia, founded the SD Gunner Fund, a registered 501(c)3 organization in 2014, originally to help veterans get service dogs free of charge, but then it grew to include children living with disabilities and first responders. The mission changed for a significant reason. “When my oldest son turned 3, he was diagnosed with autism and other conditions,” says Britnee. “There are very limited free or limited services for special needs children. We added special needs children to our platform. And then we added first responders. For police officers or firefighters, there are not a lot of service dogs.”
Incredible Stories
As the organization keeps growing, the stories of people who it is able to help are astonishing, from the parents of a child who suffers from seizures, and who, after 11 years, could finally sleep alone because the dog will alert the parents, to the veteran who was able to leave her house alone (with her service dog) for the first time in 10 years. A Navy vet from Desert Storm had been homeless, then moved into his first home and paired with his service dog, Olivia. He was formerly a chef and now makes all her food from scratch. The list goes on and Britnee remembers every story.
Camping Stayed Central to the Kinards
While the organization keeps them busy, camping is still a big part of the Kinard family’s life. They have a 38-foot Keystone, which they often use to pick up and deliver dogs to their new owners in addition to other projects. Britnee, her husband, their two children (ages 11 and 9) and their three dogs ( Gunner, plus Koda, a liver Dalmatian and Helo, another Great Pyrenees), recently went across the country in the RV for research. The nonprofit is working with the National Park Service to audit parks to see if they are service dog-friendly or disabled-friendly.
“Camping is a therapeutic way to get out and have peace of mind,” says Britnee. “You can go hiking. You don’t have to deal with the public. It is amazing. There are many healing attributes. Just get outside.”
It would have been easy for Britnee to despair or complain about circumstances her family has faced, but she simply goes through obstacles. “Life says we are going to do a U-turn,” she tells Girl Camper, and she just carries on, helping others whenever she can.
SD Gunner Fund
SD Gunner Fund is a volunteer-run organization earning the GuideStar Gold Seal of Transparency in 2019. Donations help to provide funding for the training, adoption and associated costs of service dogs for the families they serve. SD Gunner Fund is also able to provide financial support to veterans, first responders, exceptional children and their families. In 2019, SDGF provided all associated costs for 12 service dogs, two therapy dogs, as well as financial assistance such as paying off past due medical and therapy bills, housing assistance to homeless veterans, and assisting in local school special needs classrooms. Service animals are trained to support individuals with mobility, hearing, psychiatric, and neurological disabilities. More information can be found on the organization’s website, sdgunner.org.
This article by Kim Foley Mackinnon was originally published in Girl Camper Magazine.
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