Summit Assistance Dogs Volunteer Project

Jul 22, 2021 by IDEX Health & Science

In Q1 of 2020, our IDEX Health & Science Oak Harbor, Washington site started a volunteer project with Summit Assistance Dogs. The first volunteer activity included assembling snuffle mats used for training service dogs. The kits were picked up and stored in the Oak Harbor facility break rooms to allow employees to volunteer during their lunch hour.

At the end of 2020, 5 to 10 IDEX Health & Science employees began to meet up every Saturday to volunteer approximately four hours at Summit Assistance Dogs. These volunteer hours included socializing service puppies, cleaning kennels and toys, making training treats, and assisting vets with vaccines and grooming.

In 2021, our Oak Harbor team continued to volunteer on Saturdays as they did in 2020, but also took on a couple special projects. A combination of IDEX Health & Science engineers, technicians, and CI staff designed and built an ADA picnic table with benches and repaired an electric wheelchair.

Currently the special project team is starting on a second ADA picnic table with benches.

We are proud to support Summit Assistance Dogs in their mission to create life-changing partnerships by providing highly-skilled mobility service dogs for people living with disabilities in the Pacific Northwest.

Summit Assistance Dogs has been a local mobility service dog organization for the past 21 years. They have helped over 100 clients with disabilities become independent. They are working to expand their number of annual graduates and we have signed up to help support them reach this goal. In 2020, they broke ground on a state-of-the-art campus in Oak Harbor, WA to raise and train service dogs and support more clients. Most support for their services comes from volunteers, foster homes, and trainers in the local area. For more information about this wonderful organization, visit www.summitdogs.org