Those of you who know me, know that I’m heavily involved in a non-profit organization called Helping Paws. The mission of Helping Paws is to further the independence of individuals with disabilities through the use of service dogs. This is a mission I strongly believe in. Because of this, I’ve done lots of things for Helping Paws over the last seven years, including my current role as the Vice President of the Helping Paws Board of Directors.

The past several months have been a time of transition at Helping Paws. Our Director of Development for almost five years decided it was time to move on to other opportunities. We spent several months finding a worthy replacement, which was a difficult task. We found our replacement in a man named Dale. Dale started on March 1. Today I received a phone call that Dale had unexpectedly died this morning. I was stunned. He had only been with us for a week.

I have to admit that I’m sad on multiple fronts. As a person I feel awful for Dale’s partner and their families. I can’t even imagine how hard this must be for them. My thoughts and prayers are with them as they deal with this dark time in their lives. As a Helping Paws board member I’m saddened that we will never get the opportunity to work with an individual who had so much to contribute to our organization. Even though we knew him for only a short time, he had an impact on all of us. Now we have the unenviable task of finding his successor. Wish us all luck and pray for Dale’s family.