Through the annual Community Mutt Strut, PNC and Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Inc. have raised more than $500,000 to fund the training of medical service dogs for veterans struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury, and other combat-related injuries. The event is a family-friendly dog parade and festival with categories and prizes, food, music, and pet- and veteran-related vendors.
The PNC Community Mutt Strut was born in 2016 by a small group of PNC employees and Military Employee Business Resource Group members who were responding to a “call to action” by Stacy Juchno (PNC general auditor and executive committee member) to raise money to sponsor just one dog for Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Inc.
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The group thought more could be done. They combined efforts and started locally in Pittsburgh to make a larger impact. The team connected with Greg Jordan, PNC’s general counsel and chief administrative officer, whose father is a Marine Corps veteran, and asked Greg to chair the event.
The inaugural PNC Community Mutt Strut was held on Oct. 1, 2016, at Frick Park in Pittsburgh. It was organized in less than 90 days, raised almost $175,000 toward the cost of eight dogs, and was attended by more than 400 participants who brought their 140 dogs.
The second PNC Community Mutt Strut was held on Sept. 16, 2017; again at Frick Park. Another successful year, the event was attended by more than 150 volunteers who welcomed almost 600 participants and 150 dogs. In 2018 the total funds raised amount to $660,000.
Pittsburgh is now celebrating its fourth year of the Mutt Strut; Erie its second; and Dayton has its first event in October 2019.
Over the past 40 months, the Mutt Strut has become a movement; dozens of PNC employees have expressed an interest in helping it expand.
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