FCC Members Turn Tragedy into Hope and Healing for Veterans

In October 18, 2016, the Bark family experienced the worst tragedy a family can experience when their son, Brandon was involved in a fatal car accident on his way to work. Brandon was just weeks away from enlisting in the Marines and was looking forward to serving his country.

Following the loss of Brandon, the Don and Robin Bark also experienced a tremendous outpouring of support from family, friends, co-workers and perfect strangers - all asking what they do to help. And so Barkstrong, Inc. was created out of the desire to give back to others in honor and in memory of Brandon.

In August of 2018, Barkstrong, Inc held the 2nd Annual Golf Outing in Memory of Brandon to raise funds for 4 Paws for Ability. First Christian Church was proud and happy to support this initiative with a Wholeness Ministry Grant.

4 Paws for Ability works to honor our service men and women still suffering from the conflicts of war by offering them a more independent lifestyle through the help of an assistance/service dog. 4 Paws specifically assists veterans with mobility problems or hearing loss resulting from combat injuries. The disability may be a loss of a limb, balance issues, spinal injury, deafness, or other and each dog will be trained to meet each individual veteran’s specific needs.

The wholeness grant used to fund this ministry was made possible through your faithful financial support of our church and its ministries and help fund a variety of efforts to make our world a better place.

You can find more examples of those efforts or apply for a grant to make the world a better place by clicking here.