Stories & Features
Celebrating Five Years of Making New Best Friends
Mar 4, 2025
by
IDEX Health & Science
IDEX Foundation Awarded Summit Assistance Dogs with 60K Donation
Employees at our Oak Harbor facility have made many new best friends—the four-legged kind who love treats and walks, and these friends have certainly made a lasting paw print on their hearts.
Over five years, employees have volunteered countless hours at Summit Assistance Dogs to help with maintenance tasks, building a new Canine Condo, and bonding with the pups. The IDEX Foundation recently made a $60,000 donation that will be used to complete construction tasks, including floor finishing, ceiling tile and cabinet installation, as well as electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems. Since 2021, the foundation has donated $52,500 in addition to the $60,000 in 2025.
Summit Assistance Dogs is also celebrating its 25th anniversary this spring. The organization provides highly skilled mobility service dogs for people living with disabilities. Its goal is to create lifelong partnerships between people and dogs.
Since 2020, a total thirty-three of employees volunteered 600 hours performing tasks such as walking and socializing dogs, cleaning the facility, grooming the dogs, and outdoor maintenance tasks. In 2023, employees helped to build a new canine condo—they braved 20° F weather to install handrails and grab bars. These volunteer efforts were so popular that the team held monthly volunteer weekends throughout 2024.
“IDEX Health & Science employees and the IDEX foundation have made such an incredible difference for our organization and have been a beacon of hope, especially coming out of the pandemic years, which were very challenging for most nonprofits,” said Sue Meinzinger, Executive Director at Summit Assistance Dogs. “The relationship we have with the IDEX corporation and employees has advanced our mission in ways I couldn’t have imagined--and all of us at Summit are so incredibly grateful for the support we are receiving,” added Sue
IDEX Health & Science employees are given eight hours per year to volunteer at an organization of their choice. “IDEX values community and as IDEX employees, we are excited to continue our partnership with Summit Assistance Dogs through volunteer work and charitable giving,” said Carlene Schmelke, Procurement Director in Oak Harbor, who helped coordinate many of these efforts.
Summit Assistance Dogs has also held numerous training sessions on-site at IDEX Health & Science to help expose the dogs to people, situations, and sounds. These training sessions help the assistance dogs to remain calm in public situations, and provide employees a boost of joy and relaxation—surely was a highlight of the day for both the dogs and employees!
What does the future hold? Our Oak Harbor facility will continue to hold volunteer days in 2025 to help with various activities and, of course, play with the dogs!