Dogs for the Deaf, Inc. has just brought on its newest board member, Matt Dunbar, who has lived and contributed to the Rogue Valley community for more than twenty years. “Matt brings a tremendous amount of enthusiasm to our board and I’m looking forward to working with him as we endeavor to improve lives with our Assistance Dogs,” noted President and CEO Blake Matray.
Officially participating in his first board meeting on November 14th, Matt wanted to join Dogs for the Deaf’s board because of his love of animals and a strong desire to help people. Dunbar has spent the past 20 years as a committee member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. With his two little girls now being his major focus in life, he felt a strong desire to focus attention on helping people. Joining Dogs for the Deaf was a perfect fit.
Matt Dunbar is a Southern Oregon resident and is married to Adrian Dunbar. They have 2 young girls that fill their day with laughter and two dogs, Spice and Maggie. Matt graduated from Oregon State University with a Business Management degree and Spanish minor. He is the owner and CEO of Rogue Benefit Planning, a local insurance agency that helps employers and individuals with their health insurance options. In Matt’s spare time, he and his family enjoy heading to the outdoors on fishing or backpacking trips into remote areas of the wilderness.
Dogs for the Deaf focuses on the training and placing of Hearing Assistance Dogs, Program Assistance Dogs, and Autism Assistance Dogs. Dogs for the Deaf has been rescuing dogs from shelters and training them to become Hearing Dogs and Program Dogs with qualified clients throughout the United States for nearly forty years. The Autism Assistance Dogs are still in the beta phase, though already showing terrific results, with two dogs placed locally in southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley in 2016. In fiscal year 2015-16, this national organization placed 22 Assistance Dogs across the country.
