A special honor for former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, along with her husband Mark and their dog Gilbert, gunned down in their home in June during what prosecutors in the case called a political assassination.
In the weeks following the shocking burst of political violence in Minnesota, there was an outpouring of support aimed at their pet.
"Helping Paws, to get an outpouring of support both wanting to help, people wanting to volunteer, and certainly donations," says Helping Paws Executive Director Alyssa Golob.
She says the organization trains and places assistance dogs with people with physical disabilities, and veterans and first responders with PTSD. It was a cause also near and dear to the late Melissa Hortman and her family.
With the money, and permission from the Hortaman's children, they created the Hortman Heroes Fund.
"And what we hope to do is be able to really build our bench, our bench of volunteers, our bench of dogs," says Golob. "Our bunch of supplies and staff and trainers that it takes to raise one of these dogs. What we hope to see is over the next couple of years, using the dogs we have in training right now, plus the new dogs we'll be able to bring in is to up our placement rate."
Melissa and Mark Hortman worked closely with Helping Paws over the years, training one service dog that is still placed with a veteran, and adopting Gilbert.
"We are so grateful for everybody who is contributing," Golob adds. "They're helping tell the story of Melissa, Mark, and Gilbert Hortman, and it is our mission to talk about them each and every day. And we want to just thank everybody who is making that possible."
Currently, there's a three year wait for service dogs and Helping Paws hopes the new influx of money will reduce that amount of time.
To learn more or to donate to the Hortman Heroes Fund, click here.