49ers Ben Garland Sends $5,000 To Veterans Nonprofit

ATLANTA, GA — The 49ers offensive guard, Ben Garland has donated $5,000 to a Gwinnett County nonprofit that pairs trained service dogs with metro Atlanta’s military veterans. He wrote the check for the Lilburn office of Top Dogg K9 Foundation in late October, according to a news release.

The Gwinnett County nonprofit estimates that approximately 22 veterans nationwide lose their lives daily. Top Dogg K9 says that 22 is the number of heroes they hope to save every day from suicide in their #Save22 campaign.

Garland, a former guard for the Atlanta Falcons, served in the U.S. Air Force and is a member of the Colorado Air National Guard.

“This is where my heart is at,” he said in the news release. “I think it’s unacceptable that 22 military members commit suicide each day. We’ve got to find a better way to fix that. I love that [Top Dogg K9 Foundation] is doing a program to really start to work on that.”

He said he first learned about the nonprofit in February while with the Atlanta Falcons. The NFL highlighted Garland as a 2018 recipient of their Salute to Service Award presented by USAA.

Executive Director Sheila Rashad said the money will go toward training even more service dogs to assist disabled military veterans.

“With this money, we’re able to provide support to veterans: our hometown heroes,” she said in the news release. “In 2020 our goal is to become the premier location for veterans’ engagement in the community.”

The nonprofit said that receiving trained service dogs has helped to transform military veterans’ lives.