RELEASE DATE: January 18, 2010

Joanne Woodward Newman and Newman's Own Foundation Award $100,000 Challenge Grant to the Search Dog Foundation

WESTPORT, CT – Inspired by the news of Haitian earthquake survivors located by canines trained by the Search Dog Foundation (SDF), Ms. Joanne Woodward Newman and Newman’s Own Foundation today announced a combined $100,000 challenge grant in support of SDF’s teams.

“Time is of the essence in locating survivors buried in the rubble of this devastating disaster,” said Bob Forrester, president and CEO of Newman’s Own Foundation.  “SDF teams are critical to Haiti’s search-and-rescue efforts.  Please join us in supporting their life-saving work.”

The Search Dog Foundation is the only non-profit in the nation that recruits rescued dogs, partners them with firefighters, and trains them to find survivors buried in the wreckage of disasters.  The teams and their ongoing training are provided at no cost to Fire Departments throughout the country.

“I am shocked and saddened by the human suffering we are witnessing in Haiti,” said Woodward Newman.  “Finding survivors must be a first priority and supporting SDF will help save lives.”

Last Friday, an SDF-trained search team — serving as part of California Task Force 2 — found three girls trapped alive since Tuesday in Port-au-Prince.  Bill Monahan and his Border Collie Hunter were searching a neighborhood near the Presidential Palace, when Hunter “bark alerted” the survivors’ location in the crumbled remains of a four-story building.

Reporting from Haiti, Bill Monahan stated, “It would have been a reward to find one person alive.  Finding multiple survivors is a huge victory for everyone on the Task Force.  It’s a giant team effort.  From the canines, to the logistics team, to communications, everyone is working at full capacity, using everything we’ve been trained to do to find survivors.  It’s an honor to be here.”

The seven SDF Search Teams in Haiti continue to work around the clock.  Additional teams are standing by at locations across the U.S., awaiting deployment orders from the federal coordinating agencies.

Commented Debra Tosch, SDF’s executive director, “We’re honored and humbled by the extraordinary support of Ms. Woodward Newman and Newman’s Own Foundation.  Their combined grant allows us to strengthen the deployment readiness of our teams at a most critical time.”

To make a gift and help meet the challenge, donate online at: SearchDogFoundation.org, or call
(888) 459-4376.  To follow the Search Teams’ progress in Haiti, go to twitter.com/searchrescuedog and facebook.com/NationalDisasterSearchDogFoundation

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ABOUT NEWMAN’S OWN FOUNDATION (www.newmansownfoundation.org)
Paul Newman was committed to helping make the world a better place. To carry on his philanthropic legacy, Newman’s Own Foundation donates all net royalties and profits after taxes it receives from the sale of Newman’s Own products to charities worldwide.  Paul Newman and Newman’s Own Foundation have donated more than $285 million to thousands of charities around the world.

ABOUT NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION (www.SearchDogFoundation.org)
SDF is a non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen America’s emergency response network by producing the most highly-trained canine-firefighter disaster search teams in the nation. SDF recruits rescued dogs and partners them with firefighters, providing the canines and the training at no cost to their departments.  The organization receives no government funding and relies solely on support from individuals, private foundations and companies to produce these highly-skilled teams.

Since its founding in 1996, SDF has rescued hundreds of dogs, many on the brink of euthanasia. They have trained 105 Search Teams, 72 of which are currently active. SDF Teams have been deployed to 66 disasters including the World Trade Center attacks and Hurricane Katrina and state and local emergencies such as earthquakes, mudslides, building collapses, train derailments and missing person searches. Eight of SDF’s teams are members of CA-TF2 and are ready at all times for immediate deployment overseas when called upon by the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

 

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