Golfers Tee Off to Help VetDogs Program

More than 100 golfers from around Long Island turned out Monday to raise funds for the America's VetDogs program.

The third annual event kicked off at the Huntington Country Club Monday morning, led off  by the singing of the National Anthem by Daniel Rodriguez, known as the Singing Policeman, before golfers started their 18 holes of play.

Wells B. Jones, CEO of America's VetDogs, said the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind had begun as a way to serve veterans after World War II. In 2003, when more veterans began coming home wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan, the VetDogs program began. The dogs provide such services as balance, seizure alerts, retrieval and diabetic warnings.

"We felt it was important to create a focus on the veterans," Jones said. Some of the dogs visit hospitalized veterans, as well. The program is entirely funded by donors, Jones said, not through government or military revenues.

Veterans Tony Larson and his wife, Desiree, of St. Cloud, Minn., and Kent Phyfe of Brooklyn, Conn., attended, along with their service dogs, Tomme and Iris.