In the Spotlight: Jim Granoff, Volunteer Foster/Trainer

At Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, our volunteers and fosters play a crucial role in helping us prepare our dogs for our recipients to help them lead a more independent and accessible life. Jim Granoff is one of the volunteers who goes above and beyond for our organization, to help us in our mission to unleash the power to heal.

For six and half years, Jim Granoff has served the Guardian Angels’ team as a volunteer who fosters, trains, and prepares dogs through real-world experiences and interactions for their eventual recipients. Granoff takes pride in his position with Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs.

“Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is a wonderful organization that provides tangible benefits to those in need. I really support their mission and feel fortunate that I am able to help,” said Granoff.

How Jim’s Career Experience Brought Him to Guardian Angels

Granoff is a former police officer who also has career experience in the private security sector. In the past, Jim has handled and trained dogs in both his career as a police officer and during his time working in the private security sector. This experience in dog training, made Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs a great fit for Jim’s skill set.

“Guardian Angels Medical reeds some very special animals for a very special purpose,” said Granoff.

How Jim’s Unique Experience at Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs Helps Recipients

Granoff said that each dog they foster at Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is a new and unique experience. He said it is very heartwarming to see the difference these incredible dogs, that are a brief part of their lives, can make in another person’s life.

“Approximately 22 of our veterans commit suicide every day. This is a terrible tragedy that these service dogs are able to mitigate,” said Granoff. With almost 400 dogs paired over our 11-year history, Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is thankful to say that we have had zero suicides.

The service dogs at Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs help their recipients in a variety of ways such as mitigating the challenges of PTS, mobility assistance, alerting for help, retrieving dropped items, alerting prior to a seizure, and more.

Join Our Team or Volunteer Today!

Volunteers like Jim play a critical role in helping us achieve our mission. Fosters help develop our service dogs by providing public access hours, and refining house manners before the final stages of training begin. Fosters will foster the dogs for 6-8 weeks. Our fosters must also be able to attend weekly classes at our HQ in Florida. If you are interested in helping Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs achieve their goal of pairing incredible service dogs with veterans and others in need, apply to join our team or volunteer today!

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Mary Jo Brandt

Mary Jo has an extensive history working with the media as well as a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology at Northern Illinois University. Mary Jo has worked for companies such as Gannett, News Bank Inc., E.W. Scripps Company, Lee Enterprises, Pulitzer, Inc., Arthur Andersen, and has been involved with Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Inc. since 2011. Ms. Brandt has had many hours of training in leadership, coaching, and mentoring. Her teams have consistently been highly effective in support of organizational mission and goals. She has one son, Paul who is currently in the Navy, and a daughter, Amanda in college and working full-time for a law firm in Naples. Ms. Brandt began volunteering with Guardian Angels after both her father and previous employer received a Guardian Angels Service Dog in 2011. Seeing the incredible difference service dogs could make in the lives of their recipients, she became involved through volunteering her time & talent to Guardian Angels. Ms. Brandt was then asked to join the Board of Directors and has served as a Board Member since 2013. Recently, Mary Jo has been named as a 2021 Patriot Scholarship recipient from Colorado Technical University. When asked why this scholarship and completing her Master’s Degree in Business Administration was so important to her, she responded, “This scholarship represents how important education is to our military/veterans and their families. I am honored to be part of this unique community. I am already in a career that demonstrates my commitment to helping others, I expect finishing this degree will allow me to be much more effective in my pursuit of working with our Veterans. This scholarship isn’t just about me. It is about how I can help others.” Today we face an even bigger challenge that none of us saw coming during the midst of the pandemic and worldwide economic collapse beginning to unfold. Yet again, Mary Jo is stepping up to the plate to be sure that our organization continues to serve those that need us, as we triumph in the face of untold adversity of today’s world. Businesses will only survive these difficult times because of leaders like Mary Jo.

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