Help Us Train Our Next Service Dog That Saves Lives - $10,000 for a Veteran's Best Friend

I know what it's like to come home and feel completely alone.

My name is Robert Hess. I'm a disabled veteran, a PTSD survivor, and the founder of the Disabled Veteran Empowerment Network (DVEN).

I've lived through the silence that follows service. The kind that doesn't make the news, but claims more veterans than combat does.

Twenty-two veterans die by suicide every day. Not on the battlefield. At home. In the quiet.

I started DVEN because I refused to accept that quiet as inevitable.

What we built.

Six years ago, we created the Top Dog Championships — the world's only inter-service military motorsport competition. Every September, veterans, active-duty service members, military families, and their supporters come together to compete at a military service community. One track. No rank. No walls. Just speed, community, and the kind of camaraderie that reminds a veteran why they're still here.

It sounds like a race. It feels like a lifeline.

But the track is only part of what we do. The deeper mission, the one that keeps me up at night in the best possible way, is our service and emotional support dog program.

Right now, we have an emotional support dog in training. This dog will be paired with a veteran carrying wounds the world can't see — PTSD, moral injury, traumatic brain injury, the weight of things that don't have names.

A trained service or emotional support dog doesn't just provide comfort. They interrupt nightmares. They create a reason to get up.

They notice what humans miss. For a veteran who has lost the thread back to the world, this dog can be the thread.

We need $10,000 to complete this dog's training and place them with a veteran who needs them.

Here's where you come in.

This year, 70 drivers will take the track at the 6th Annual Top Dog Championships on September 12, 2026. Each one is racing for something bigger than a trophy. They're racing for this dog. For the veteran waiting on the other end of this campaign. For the 22.

Every driver has their own fundraising page — their own story, their own network, their own reason for showing up. If each of us raises just $143, we hit $10,000 together.

That's one dinner out. One tank of gas. One less thing on Amazon.

For a veteran, it's everything.

What your donation does.

• $25 covers one week of training supplies for the dog

• $50 covers a veterinary wellness visit during training

• $100 covers one full week of professional training sessions

• $500 covers a full month of the dog's training program

• $1,000 brings us 10% of the way to pairing this dog with a veteran

Every dollar raised through this campaign goes directly to the training and placement of this dog. 100% to the mission.

DVEN is a registered 501(c)(3) — your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. EIN: 99-5053861.

I'm asking you to be part of this.

I've lived the cost of isolation. I've sat with other veterans who've lived it too. And I've seen what happens when you hand someone a mission, a community, and a dog who won't let them disappear.

They come back.

Please donate today. Share this page. Tell someone what's happening on September 12, 2026, at Dominion Raceway in Thronburg, Virginia.

Warm regards,

Robert