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PA VetPets answers ‘call to action’ for area veterans

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A small group of family members and friends gathered Sept. 12 at Mingo Creek County Park for a tree-planting ceremony in honor of Navy Sgt. Russell Lee Crupe Jr. and Marine Cpl. Nathan Daniel Fosbaugh, who both died by suicide. The memorial was hosted by PA VetPets.

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A 13-foot-tall dogwood fir planted Sept. 12 honors two local veterans in Mingo Creek County Park. Omar Brooks, co-founder of PA VetPets, hopes the site commemorating Navy Sgt. Russell Lee Crupe Jr. and Marine Cpl. Nathan Daniel Fosbaugh will serve as a community space that brings hope, encourages reflection and reminds visitors they are not alone.

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Courtesy of Omar Brooks

The Landscape Center’s Devan Evanovich and crew plant a dogwood fir in Mingo Creek County Park Sept. 12 at the memorial ceremony honoring the lives of two local veterans who died by suicide. A small gathering of family and friends of Navy Sgt. Russell Lee Crupe Jr. and Marine Cpl. Nathan Daniel Fosbaugh, along with community members, dedicated the site to their memories.

Omar Brooks wasn’t a dog guy.

A 1998 Canon-McMillan graduate, Brooks enlisted in the U.S. Army after high school, completed one tour of duty in Iraq, served in Kuwait and retired as a sergeant in 2008.

“I returned from active duty with post-traumatic stress, not being able to be around crowds. I went through different jobs. There was something off,” Brooks said. “I kept looking for that (next) mission.”

When his wife, Nicole Malesic, lost her dog, she suggested the couple begin their next mission fostering area canines.

“(Nicole) said, ‘I think fostering would help you.’ I was reluctant at first, not being a dog person,” Brooks said. “If you have any sort of suicidal thoughts, any sort of anxiety, there’s something with a dog. I saw that these dogs were helping me. I could tell that I was slowly changing over time.”

In December of 2020, the Washington couple co-founded the nonprofit PA VetPets with the goal of pairing veterans in need of companions with dogs looking for forever homes.

“(Nicole)’s a dog mom, I’m a war veteran, so we put things together,” Brooks said with a laugh. “Since we foster dogs anyway, we figured we could help veterans.”

Brooks and Malesic, along with their two children, began fostering with Bridge to Home Animal Rescue in Eighty Four about three years ago and have since taken in about 16 dogs. Brooks said he often took dogs into nursing homes to brighten residents’ days.

When asked by staff who he was with, he would answer he was volunteering by himself. Eventually, Brooks decided it might be more legitimate if he were volunteering with a nonprofit and PA VetPets was born.

The local nonprofit spent its first five months working out how best to pair veterans with dogs available for adoption at local rescues. After a few unsuccessful matches, Brooks realized the best way to help veterans looking to adopt was to simply cover costs.

The nonprofit switched focus, putting post-traumatic stress and suicide awareness at the forefront of its mission and adoptions second.

“Since December … we’ve been refining a process,” Brook said. “If the best thing we can do is create awareness, the second thing is covering adoption for veterans. As long as we have the funds, we will cover (adoption). We just raise money to cover adoptions for local veterans.”

Brooks, Malesic and the nonprofit’s public relations director Leigh Mawhinney recently partnered with Rusty Gold Brewing in Canonsburg to bring awareness to the cause, and the organization is showing up at area events.

Last week, PA VetPets hosted a tree planting memorial ceremony in Mingo Creek County Park to honor two Washington County veterans who died by suicide.

“We were actually in the process of helping a veteran get a dog and he committed suicide. When the word got to us, we were devastated,” Brooks said. “We gotta do something.”

Brooks reached out to local residents who pulled together to make the ceremony special. Mrs. Pennsylvania America Catherine Clemens Sloane served as honorary speaker, and Dan Baker and Nathan Griffis set the soundtrack of the event with live music.

A dogwood fir donated by The Landscape Center in Bethel Park was escorted to the memorial site by riders from the American Legion and Red Knights.

One tree was planted in honor of Navy Sgt. Russell Lee Crupe Jr. and Marine Cpl. Nathan Daniel Fosbaugh.

“When veterans have post-traumatic stress or suicidal thoughts, a lot of them feel alone,” Brooks said. “We thought, why don’t we … honor both of these veterans together in one single tree so that in memory they’re not alone?”

PA VetPets is already planning to install a bench beside the 13-foot-tall tree and Brooks hopes the site brings comfort to the community.

“If somebody’s suffering or just needs a quiet place to sit, they can go sit under this tree, have a moment of silence, gather their thoughts,” he said.

Despite what Brooks said were “some setbacks and some sadness,” he believes events like the tree ceremony and future fundraisers – PA Vet Pets is planning a winter gala – will further the mission of bringing awareness to local veterans’ experiences.

“Every day, 22 veterans lose their battle to post-traumatic stress on American soil. We’re of the belief that 22 a day is too many,” said Brooks. “Washington County has one of the highest concentrations of veterans, so the need for veterans outreach is there. Our success is creating awareness in the community.

“We’re going to continue to foster dogs, we’re going to continue to cover the cost of adoptions,” he added. “We need fosters. This is our call to action.”

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