Gretchen Evans

Retired Command Sergeant Major (CSM), US Army; Author, Leading from the Front

We are honored to have a partnership with Retired Command Sergeant Major (CMS) Gretchen Evans, a brave warrior who served her country, survived devastating injuries, and credits her service dog Aura for saving her life. She is now dedicated to inspiring her military comrades—and others— to think beyond age, illness, or disability.  

During her 27-year career with the United States Army, she deployed several times to the Middle East including her final assignment as the Garrison Command Sergeant Major of Commander, Combined Forces Command, Afghanistan where she was responsible for 30,000 troops. Gretchen was inducted into the United States Veterans Hall of Fame in 2020 and has earned numerous other medals and awards including the Bronze Star, the Presidential Unit Citation Medal, Global War on Terrorism ribbons, six Meritorious Service Medals and numerous other awards.  

Anthony & Tillman

The Dogtopia Foundation partnered with Next Step Service Dogs to bring together returned veteran Anthony Torres and his field golden retriever, Tillman.

Torres served as a U.S. Marine for six years. Following his years of service, he returned home and connected with Next Step Service Dogs, an organization focused on providing trained service dogs to veterans, Gina Esoldi, Program Director with Next Step Service Dogs, united Torres with Tillman and guided him through the training process.

Tillman has impacted Torres’s life in numerous ways. He now feels confident and plays a more active role in his community. Tillman keeps him going.

“He’s that number one spot in my life and I need to make sure he’s taken care of,” said Torres.

Jeanette & Maverick

Maverick was the first service dog sponsored by Dogtopia in 2017 and was recently matched with his veteran, Jeanette. Jeanette served in the Army (military police) outside of Bagdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006 and 07. She is a Veteran living in Santa Rosa, CA.

After experiencing a 2 ½ year waiting list, she describes meeting Maverick for the first time as “love at first sight.” Jeanette has fond memories of their first meeting, “Maverick came through the door with his tail wagging, walked over to me and put his head in my lap; there was an instant connection.” Like any proud parent, she described Maverick as the tallest in his class, most handsome, attentive, smart and an overachiever – he retrieves two dumbbells when the other dogs retrieve only one.

Keep Reading Celebration

SitStayRead’s mission is to advance children’s literacy skills using an engaging curriculum, certified dogs, and dedicated volunteers. In 2013 SitStayRead partnered with the Department of School Psychology at Loyola University Chicago to create an evaluation tool that measured student achievement in reading fluency and comprehension. The study found that students in SitStayRead developed fluency at a rate 47.8% greater than their non-participating peers.

The Dogtopia Foundation was proud to assist in SitStayRead’s 2017 through 2021 Keep Reading Celebration while sponsoring Hazel’s Happy Home, a book written by second graders participating in the SitStayRead program.

Girish Rao and Radhika Dontaraju

“We were looking to do something with a smarter approach to the service industry that was organized and standardized,” said Girish. “We took the steps and came to learn more about Dogtopia and that’s when we were introduced to the Dogtopia Foundation. That was a game changer for us.”

For Girish and Radhika, this cause hit very close to home – their son, Neel (age 10) is on the autism spectrum.

“We knew our son may have trouble finding employment as an adult,” said Radhika. “We thought, ‘we can always put funds aside for him, but then what?’ When we heard about the work Dogtopia is doing to help lower the unemployment rate for adults with autism, it opened a future not only for us, but for our son, too.”

As Girish and Radhika set out on their journey, they visited a Dogtopia in Virginia and met several of the 10+ employees with autism working in the dog daycare.

“It was amazing how well the team embraced these adults,” said Radhika. “It was really heartwarming.”

Now, in their own daycare, which opened in November of 2019, they have hired one full-time employee and one intern on the autism spectrum. They also partner with a local career transition program that brings students with learning disabilities to Dogtopia to learn and grow.

Girish Rao and Radhika Dontaraju

“We were looking to do something with a smarter approach to the service industry that was organized and standardized,” said Girish. “We took the steps and came to learn more about Dogtopia and that’s when we were introduced to the Dogtopia Foundation. That was a game changer for us.”

For Girish and Radhika, this cause hit very close to home – their son, Neel (age 10) is on the autism spectrum.

“We knew our son may have trouble finding employment as an adult,” said Radhika. “We thought, ‘we can always put funds aside for him, but then what?’ When we heard about the work Dogtopia is doing to help lower the unemployment rate for adults with autism, it opened a future not only for us, but for our son, too.”

As Girish and Radhika set out on their journey, they visited a Dogtopia in Virginia and met several of the 10+ employees with autism working in the dog daycare.

“It was amazing how well the team embraced these adults,” said Radhika. “It was really heartwarming.”

Now, in their own daycare, which opened in November of 2019, they have hired one full-time employee and one intern on the autism spectrum. They also partner with a local career transition program that brings students with learning disabilities to Dogtopia to learn and grow.