Festival of the Arts BOCA: Vets helping heroes

Boca Raton, Florida — The story of war veterans helping other vets can be touching and profound. Sunday afternoon at the Festival of the arts BOCA the story of vets helping vets will span decades and generations. Irwin Stovroff served in World War Two. Now, over 60 years later he gives back to the latest crop of heroes who served their country.

On March 6th Stovroff will speak at the Cultural Arts Center at 4pm. His presentation, called "Vets Helping Heros" will tell his story and show how assistance dogs can be heaven-sent for today's recently returned warriors.

From the festival's web site: Since 2006, Vets Helping Heroes (VHH) has been raising funds to sponsor the training of assistance dogs for disabled U.S. veterans and active duty military personnel.

Founded by Irwin Stovroff, a highly decorated WWII veteran and ex-POW who spent 13 months in a Nazi POW camp, VHH has built a national network to ensure that veterans and active duty military with different types of disabilities can acquire the right kind of assistance dog from reputable training facilities with minimum travel.

Assistance dogs truly do amazing things: They prevent suicides, restore families and allow their recipients to become functioning members of society, living once again with independence and dignity. The need is real, as U.S. veterans are committing suicide at the frightening rate of 22 per day. Acquisition and training of these highly specialized dogs can cost upwards of $30,000 per dog. Since its inception, VHH has raised nearly $5 million and provided approximately 150 service dogs to vets and their families.

For more information and tickets, visit the Festival of the Arts BOCA website.