Visitors to Worthy Coffee Co. in Roy on Saturday, Oct. 19, may have seen a new drink on the menu called “The Kona,” a white chocolate and English toffee latte topped with whipped cream, caramel drizzle and sprinkles.
The sweet treat was created in partnership with Forgotten Dogs 4 Forgotten Vets (FD4FV), a nonprofit organization that provides disabled and/or honorably discharged veterans with professionally trained service dogs to assist them with their disabilities while helping to rehome dogs from local shelters and rescues.
With every purchase of “The Kona” during the “Vets and Coffee” gathering at Worthy Coffee Co., proceeds were donated to the organization’s mission. The drink was named after Kona, the late service dog of FD4FV founder David Keller, who is a former U.S. Army reserve staff sergeant. Kona was a rescue dog who found Keller at the Pierce County Humane Society in 2015 and aided him in his battle with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Kona passed away last fall, and FD4FV was created to carry on her memory and pass along the support and care that she gave to Keller.
“She’s probably the main reason I’m still around,” Keller said. “One of the biggest issues I’ve noticed with PTSD is depression. With depression, you don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. You have a dog there, you have to get out of bed. You don’t have a choice. Now, you have a goal. You have a mission. You have an objective, and you can get back to having that because you have another life you have to take care of.”
FD4FV, led by Keller and his fiancée Shannon Gilbert, has a goal of training 20 dogs per year with the support of its partners and sponsors. The average wait time to receive a service dog is one to three years, but the organization wants to bridge the gap and train the veteran along with their service dog.
The nonprofit has teamed up with shelters and rescues such as Sova’s Special Tails Rescue in Roy and Kingston’s Kennels in Roy. FD4FV also partnered with Worthy Coffee Co. for “The Kona” drink and the “Vets and Coffee” events, which take place every third Saturday of the month.
“We want to just spread the word and get veterans in to know that we’re a useful resource. We’re here to support them. It’s not self-serving at all,” Gilbert said. “We’re just hoping to help veterans, whether it’s one or 10 or 100.”
Keller said there are six veterans in the program, and Gilbert added that they’re hoping to get two or three dogs to veterans by the end of next month. Gilbert is personally driven to help veterans struggling with PTSD find a reason to keep living and to bring joy and purpose to their lives.
“Twenty-two veterans a day commit suicide due to experiences in PTSD with their military service. My last husband was one of those,” she said. “As long as we’re hitting the goal of saving them or giving them a better purpose, that’s ultimately the goal.”
Scott Lebert, the vice president of FD4FV and a near 10-year veteran who battles PTSD, said he is living proof that a service dog is a life-changing addition for someone in his shoes.
“Prior to this, I was one of those typical drinking, smoking, do-whatever veterans just to cope, and with the dog, I’ve turned my life around 100%. I want to continue. I want to pass what helped me along to other veterans in this community,” Lebert said. “I think it’s an amazing program that they came up with.”
Keller is also testament to the impact of having a service dog, and he said the program has been a special way to meet other veterans who have similar struggles and share similar stories.
“[Scott] and I are both combat vets. We’ve both seen and done horrible crap that we live with on the daily,” he said. “The coolest thing is being able to link up with these other vets and be like, ‘We understand it. We get it. We’ve been through it. We’re still going through it. It doesn’t end, but here is a way to cope.’”
To learn more about FD4FV, visit its website at https://www.fd4fv.com/.
