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CHITTENANGO, N.Y. -- A local organization that connects animals with veterans to help both gets a big boost from a local sports celebrity. SU Football Coach Doug Marrone and his wife Helen hosted a barbecue Saturday to benefit the Chittenango-based organization "Clear Path for Veterans" and its program "Dogs2Vets."

The program is designed to help veterans who want to train their own psychiatric service dog. Veterans who participate in Dogs2Vets suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and military sexual trauma. Marrone says he and his wife planned this event because they are animal lovers and they love America, so it was a perfect fit.

"Our young men and women that serve this country have such a long journey when they go out. There's a lot of training and a lot of things that go on and they're up there fighting battles not on their home turf. Where we fight battles on the football field on our home turf and we appreciate that. And when they come home it's a journey again," Marrone said.

Dogs2Vets is unique because not only are the dogs helping the veterans, but the dogs chosen for the program have been rescued from local shelters. For more information, visit http://clearpathforvets.com/helping.shtml.