Carolina Canines for Service Announces First Director of Member Relations

WILMINGTON, N.C.: Carolina Canines for Service announces a new addition to their staff. Jennifer Edwards, recently from Greensboro, N.C., will serve as their first Director of Member Relations. The Wilmington Group led the national search to fill the position, providing more than $15,000 in services pro bono.

“Carolina Canines for Service represents excellence in service dog training,” says Ms. Edwards. “Once you see these dogs in action, they’ll knock your socks off with what they can do. Carolina Canines service dogs undergo a minimum of 2000 hours of training and typically know more seventy commands. These are dogs you can count on.”

Ms. Edwards brings to Carolina Canines nearly ten years experience in non-profit leadership, financial and program development. For the past three years, she worked with the river protection organization, Dan River Basin Association, to help meet their $200,000 - $400,000 a year budget and support four offices across their service region. She also has served as Program Officer with the North Carolina Humanities Council and Executive Director of the SPCA of the Triad. She is in the process of relocating to Wilmington with her family that includes their pack of rescued herding dogs. Ms. Edwards will be headquartered in Carolina Canines’ corporate office in Wilmington, N.C. and will be working with programs in Wilmington and Raleigh, N.C. and Charleston, S.C. 

“Our firm has successfully placed Director of Development and senior level not-for-profit organizational national searches for many years”, says Kirk Sears of the Wilmington Group.  “I personally found recruiting for Carolina Canines to be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling recruiting projects we have ever conducted.  Once a prospective candidate learned of what services Carolina Canines provided many people jumped at the chance to be considered.  Our search took us to over 11 states.” The Wilmington Group is an award-winning a national executive search and professional search firm and can be reached at www.wilmingtongroup.com.

Carolina Canines for Service is a 501c3 non-profit corporation dedicated to empowering people with disabilities to achieve greater independence. The group trains certified service dogs with the help of volunteer foster families and military prisoners then matches the dog to an eligible recipient and provides the dog free of charge. Since its inception in 1996, Carolina Canines has placed 47 service dogs, completed thousands of hours of pet therapy visitation with over 300 Carolina Canines for Therapy teams, and inspired the love of reading in more than 600 children in our community. More than $5.0 million in services have been provided at no cost to our community. For more information, call (866) 910-3647 or visit www.carolinacanines.org.

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