Tag archives: search dog foundation

Venezuela, located at the northernmost tip of South America, occupies a typically enviable spot in the middle of the tropics. Gaze northward from a beach there and you’re taking in both the Caribbean and the mighty Atlantic. The country also sits atop a tectonic meeting place, a boundary where the Caribbean and South American plates […]

Members of both Montecito Bank & Trust’s MClub and the venerable Santa Barbara Club joined together for a memorable journey to Santa Paula’s Heritage Valley. After a scenic drive, we made our way to the Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum, where we explored Ventura County’s rich farming heritage and toured their impressive photography exhibit […]

Wilma Melville founded the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation in 1996, a year after witnessing the dearth of rescue dogs available to search for survivors in the aftermath of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Almost 30 years in, SDF, located in a rural area of Santa Paula, has […]

Thirty years ago this coming April, FEMA-Certified Canine Search Specialist Wilma Melville and her black lab Murphy spent a week rummaging through the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma. What stood out was just how few other rescue dogs were on site to search for survivors. When Melville realized only […]

Have you guys read The Giving List? If not, you should go check it out. Lots of great nonprofits featured in there. And I should know – I covered some of those stories. Three years ago, I was given the opportunity to interview the team at the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Fascinating! Of course, […]