By Jason Gabak
Sara Kohlbrenner and her family, like many other families during COVID-19, have welcomed a new four-legged friend to their family.
Flash is a young dog the family brought into their home this past summer and Kohlbrenner joked that the family’s other dog has slowly adapted to having a new friend around the house.
“Our other dog has learned there are other treats,” she joked. “As we are training Flash, our other dog has been benefiting from the extra treats being around.”
While the family is working diligently to train Flash, in the long run, Flash will not be a permanent member of the Kohlbrenner family.
Flash is being trained to be a service dog for a veteran through a program hosted by Clear Path for Veterans.
Kohlbrenner said the family planned to welcome Flash into their fold before COVID-19 changed the normal course of things, but having Flash has been a great benefit to the family.
Julia and Josh, twin children of the Kohlbrenners, are seniors this year, who are also longtime soccer players.
While they have had successful seasons, COVID-19 has presented its fair share of challenges and this has not been the kind of senior year the siblings would have hoped for.
Josh and the F-M boys team are 11-0 and ranked number one in the state and number three in the nation.
Julia and the F-M girls team have gone 9-3-1 overall and 6-1-1 in the league.
This season has been changed dramatically by the pandemic, but having Flash has been a bright spot for the siblings and their family.
Kohlbrenner said the whole family has been involved in training Flash and often Flash would be in attendance for games and watching Josh and Julia while they trained around the house.
There were a number of reasons the Kohlbrenner family decided to help train Flash, but perhaps most important to them is the long tradition of military service in the family.
William Kohlbrenner, 94, is a World War II veteran who resides in an assisted living facility.
Kohlbrenner said it is difficult to not be able to visit with him at this time.
Kohlbrenner’s own father served during the Cuban Missile Crisis and she also has a brother who served in the Persian Gulf. This long line of service helped inspire the family’s interest in training Flash as well as other volunteer efforts to help support veterans over the years.
“My mom proposed the idea,” Julia said. “We have family that are veterans and we already have a dog, we thought it would be a great project to do.”
Josh shared this sentiment.
“To my family helping veterans means a lot because I have many veterans in my family,” he said. “Both my grandpa and my uncle served. So to know that fostering Flash will help someone like my grandpa and uncle means a lot to us.”
Kohlbrenner said there are many benefits to veterans who have service animals.
These animals can help them remain clam in tense or difficult situations and can lend needed emotional stability and support.
For example, Kohlbrenner said there are many cases where service animals have helped people struggling with PTSD to resume work and other day to day endeavors.
Thus far training Flash has been a good experience for the family and one that will carry on for 12 to 18 months before Flash is ready to meet his new family.
According to Josh COVID-19 gave the family the time to take on this opportunity, one they discussed many times, but the health crisis gave them the time to commit to this.
“So far it has been fun, but difficult at times,” Josh said. “Everyone loves having a puppy but service dogs have certain rules that you have to follow compared to a regular dog.”
The family’s other dog, Ginger, has been with them for five years and Josh said while training Flash is different than Ginger, it is something everyone has adapted to and he said it has been an overall fun experience.
And the end results of all their work is something the siblings feel is well worth the effort.
“Flash is an amazing dog,” Julia said. “She is still a puppy though so it takes some patience. She has done very well and my mom has been very good about keeping her trained with lots of practice. While it is very sad we eventually have to give her up, I am excited for her next owner to have her. I know she is going to be helping someone who needs it so it makes it not as hard. I am excited that she gets to help people and that makes it worth it.”
The family has also given time volunteering at Clear Path for Veterans and through the soccer team there has also been a focus on helping veterans.
F-M boys “Goals for Vets” is now in its third year.
At the beginning of the season, each player asked for a set monetary amount to be donated for each goal scored to go towards Clear Path for Veterans.
Kohlbrenner said people pledged 50 cents, a dollar and in some cases fiver dollars or more per goal.
The first year $5,000 was raised and last season $7,000 was raised with a goal to reach $10,000 this year.
This year the team put up 56 goals which is a big step in the right direction toward this goal.
Aside from money pledged for goals, donations are also being accepted.
Donations can be sent to FMASBC, P.O. Box 561, Manlius, NY, 13104. Anyone sending a check is asked to put “goals for vets” in the memo line.
