About TGOS

The Founder and President of The Gift of Sunshine, Inc. is Ms. Julie Van Vliet, who has over ten years of professional experience training service dogs. Prior to founding The Gift of Sunshine in November 2002, Julie E. Van Vliet worked as Master Trainer at Independence Dogs in Chadds Ford, PA. During that time she helped to implement the first program in the country to train service dogs specifically to assist individuals with Parkinson’s disease. This initial pilot program was a joint effort by Independence Dogs, Inc., Dr. Matthew Stern, a neurologist at the Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders Center at Pennsylvania Hospital, and SmithKline Beecham.

Julie is supported by a team of dedicated and experienced dog trainers and volunteers who provide homes for puppies in the training program, team up with therapy dogs to visit hospitals, assist in advanced dog training and a wide variety of other activities essential to our mission.

Our mission at The Gift of Sunshine is to help disabled men, women and children live their lives to their fullest despite the daily challenges they face.

Some recipients of our dogs are ambulatory and walk with the aid of a cane or walker while others require the use of a manual wheelchair or scooter. Each recipient has different needs. The Gift of Sunshine specifically matches and trains the dog to meet the needs of his or her partner. Each team is perfectly matched based on the size, personality and lifestyle of the recipient. "Sunshine" dogs are trained to provide the mobility-impaired person with balance and support while walking and to help with getting back on their feet after a fall. Our dogs may assist with wheelchair pulling and the retrieval of dropped objects. These special dogs are also trained to open doors, turn off lights, push elevator buttons and countless other tasks needed by their partners.

Nelson, a merle Great Dane, was the inspiration for the name of The Gift of Sunshine. "Sunshine" was Nelson's nickname because he brought warmth and happiness to the lives of everyone who knew him. Although Nelson was unable to complete his training as a service dog due to a serious medical condition, he worked as a therapy dog with emotionally and sexually abused children until his death in 2002 at the age of 2 years old.