Ron and Vicki Santo Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation


August 23, 2017 • • • •

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Ron and Vicki Santo Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation.

On WGN Plus, listen HERE to this amazing conversation with Vicki explaining why she’s so cheerful these days. She’s actually saving lives, and certainly changing lives, of people (especially children) with diabetes. She continues pairing diabetic patients with diabetic alert dogs.

at Wrigley with Vicki Santo

Was always much more than Ron’s play on the field

This idea began for Vicki with her Australian Shepherd, named Joker. It seemed, at first, Ron and Joker didn’t bond. And Vicki tells the story of Ron calling into my WGN radio show, and then hearing the “odd,” or at least surprising, advice I offered. But it worked, and Joker the dog soon bonded with Ron so much that the dog saved his life a few times, which Vicki talks about.

So far, 22 dogs have been funded by the Foundation and delivered to change lives. More dogs could be training, but more funds are needed. Vicki talks about how the technology has integrated with medicine to improve the quality of life of people with diabetes these days, but still dogs do even better than this technology. The dogs don’t come cheap, though. The cost is $18,000 per dog (actually, that is less expensive than other groups, which also charge donors for overhead, etc). If you can donate that much, you can name the dog, and hear personally from the recipient of the dog; it’s very touching. If you want to impact a family’s life—mostly the lives of kids—this is a great way to do it.

Pairing up another dog with a young man a few years back

From August 31 to September 3 (2017), Cubs great Ferguson Jenkins will be signing all sorts of Cubs memorabilia on the concourse at Wrigley Field with Vicki, and all the proceeds go straight to the Ron and Vicki Santo Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation. If you don’t show your support to help diabetics and their families, show your support for Ron. (And, it’s a tax write off, too!)

You can apply for a dog here, or you can (and I hope you do) donate HERE.