TOPVETS donate $30K to area groups

Mary Jo Brandt, COO of Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, with service dog Ricki-Dot, accepts a donation from Jeff Dean, president of the Ocala Preserve Veterans Club (TOPVETS) during a March 1, 2025, breakfast event at the Salted Brick Restaurant in the Ocala Preserve community. [Photo by Andy Fillmore]

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Posted March 4, 2025 | By Andy Fillmore, [email protected]

Members of the Ocala Preserve Veterans Club, also known as the TOPVETS, gathered for a breakfast meeting on March 1 to distribute donations totaling $30,000. The funds, raised in 2024 through the club’s annual Veterans Day Golf Tournament, silent auction and pancake breakfast, were donated to Marion County outreaches focused on helping veterans in need.

The club has raised about $90,000 over the last three years for veteran-related causes, according to club spokesman and U.S. Air Force veteran Bruce Sprecher.

Club president Jeff Dean, on hand to present the donations, is a U.S. Navy veteran who served from 1976 to 1984. He said the club currently has 60 dues paying members and about 20 supportive members.

“We’re extremely pleased to be able to support all these wonderful organizations who focus their efforts on helping and caring for veterans. We’re proud that this year’s donations exceed what we’ve been able to do in the past and hopefully we can do even more in 2025,” Dean stated in a news release.

Mary Jo Brandt, CEO of the Williston-based nonprofit Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, was on hand with service dog Ricki-Dot to accept the club’s donation of $12,000.

Brandt said the organization currently has 87 dogs on their property and has placed dogs with veterans in 32 states to date. The total cost to train and team up a dog is about $27,000.

“The $12,000 will go towards the training, travel and follow up for the life of the team, including veterinary questions and care and any additional training,” Brandt stated in a text. “TOPVETS has been very supportive.”

Brandt explained that in the case of a veteran with PTSD, the body may undergo, for example, chemical changes during a PTSD related episode and the dog may smell the change and use “pressure therapy” with its paws to help alleviate the episode.

According to the organization’s website, “service dogs are trained to assist with a range of conditions, including PTSD, traumatic brain injury, mobility challenges, seizure and diabetic disorders, and hearing impairments…”

Veterans Helping Veterans USA of Marion County President Charlie Calhoun was joined at the breakfast by members Bob Levenson and Steve Petty to accept a $10,000 donation that will be used to help veterans in areas such as rent and utility payments and other financial assistance.

The nonprofit organization maintains offices within the Veterans Resource Center at 2730 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, and provides an array of services, including counseling and a food pantry.

Ron Oppliger, chairman of the nonprofit Friends of Marion County Veterans Park Foundation, said that a donation of $3,000 from the TOPVETS will go toward installing a decorative gate on the southwest side of the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park at 2601 E. Fort King St., Ocala.

The foundation has completed about 15 projects in the park, including the “Family Monument,” which depicts a soldier’s homecoming with a free-standing life-size statue of a service member, spouse and child, and adjacent monument. The group currently has at least six projects planned for the park.

The Marion County Veterans Council received a $ 2,000 donation and The Villages Honor Flight received a $2,000 donation to cover the cost of taking two Marion County veterans on a flight to visit memorials in the nation’s capital.

Jennifer Richardson, a 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran and now a master sergeant with the North Marion High School Junior ROTC, was at the breakfast to accept a $1,000 donation for the group. She was accompanied by cadets Tamia Bothwell and Christian Reese.

“The donation means a lot,” Richardson said, indicating the funds would be used for things such as field trips.

Bill Leigher, a founding TOPVETS member who served 33 years in the Navy and attained the rank of admiral, said the roots of the organization date back to 2019 and that in 2020 the group “took off.”

Dan Blaszczyk, a Vietnam War veteran; Robert Ball, a Vietnam War-era veteran; Wanda Williams, a USAF veteran who served from 1988 to 1991 and is a founding member of TOPVETS; and USAF veteran Jamie Jameson attended the breakfast.

William Snyder, a TOPVETS member and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, served in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 during two deployments overseas. Snyder, 42, said he feels that with some younger veterans, social media may have “taken over” veterans’ organizations and he prefers the “camaraderie” of “face to face” meetings.

Snyder is the COO of veteran owned and operated Evergreen Private Care, a home healthcare agency with locations in 16 North Florida counties and five South Florida counties, and offices in Stuart and Ocala.

In addition to their fundraising endeavors, the TOPVETS club has completed a Veterans Park in the Ocala Preserve community, dedicated to “those who perished, honoring those who served, and extending gratitude to those serving in the armed forces of the United States and our Allies.”

To learn more, go to topvets.org