Scouts land large hauls to fight hunger
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Upholding their Scout pledge to “help other people at all times,” Cub Scout Pack 832 recently collected and delivered 550 pounds of food to the Food Pantry of Green Cove Springs. After unloading the food, Scouts sorted it and packed family orders for clients. The annual Scouting for Food program is always a help to local food pantries. This year, Cub Scout Pack & Scout Troop 389 picked up 3,515 pounds of food for the Pantry. Scouts then spent several hours sorting it and packing it away.

Cyclist goes 1,000 miles for “The Hope Chest”
ORANGE PARK – In honor of his dog Hope, and to raise awareness about the importance and availability of pet insurance, cyclist Rick Dreyer recently completed a 1,000-mile bike ride from Florida to Ohio to raise $5,000 for a Jacksonville nonprofit foundation that helps pets with serious illnesses.
Through donations received on his GoFundMe Page and through the Hope Chest website and helped along by social media posts made during his three-week ride, Dreyer raised $5,000 in donations for The Hope Chest Charitable Foundation, a Jacksonville nonprofit agency that provides financial support for medical care for pets with cancer and debilitating chronic illnesses.
“We named it ‘Hope’s Ride – A Journey of Healing’ to keep our dog Hope’s memory alive and, at the same time, help others who may be faced with this burden at some point in their lives,” said Dreyer, who was joined by his wife, Yvette, on the trip.
“We wanted to not only raise money for The Hope Chest, but also to highlight the importance of having pet insurance and the huge financial burden it lifted from our shoulders in situations like ours with Hope,” he said. “Since you can’t predict when or if your pet is going to get sick, pet insurance can really give you peace of mind in those times when you need to be concerned with your pet’s healing and not the cost.”
Hope was just short of 10 years old when she lost died from a fast-growing, highly-invasive form of cancer called Hemangiosarcoma. It is a sarcoma arising from the lining of blood vessels, and a frequent cause of death is the rupture of this tumor – causing internal bleeding. Hope underwent treatment and chemotherapy at Southeast Veterinary Oncology and Internal Medicine, which specializes in treating cancer and other serious internal diseases in pets.
The ride, which originated in Fernandina Beach, took Dreyer through Savannah, Georgia, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Wilmington North Carolina and Gettysburg, Virginia – and eventually into Cleveland. He arrived at the headquarters for Embrace Pet Insurance company, which donated $3,000 to The Hope Chest – part of the total $5,000 donation.
The Hope Chest Charitable Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides financial support for medical care for pets battling cancer, debilitating chronic illnesses, and supports pets that have been displaced due to catastrophic natural disasters. The Hope Chest also serves to promote community awareness of the diseases facing our pet populations by supporting recognition, early detection, and rapid treatment of some of the most common conditions facing pet populations. The Foundation is an outgrowth of Southeast Veterinary Oncology and Internal Medicine, which is based at 304 Corporate Way in Orange Park. For more information, or to donate, visit http://www.southeastveterinaryoncologyandinternalmedicine.com/the-hope-chest-charitable-donations/.