“Just back your heels up so they’re sticking over the edge,” Kelly Cosgrove, an employee with the aptly named Over the Edge, told me. I stood on the top of the U.S. Bancorp Tower, locally known as Big Pink for its rosy hue. At 536 feet, the 42-story skyscraper is Portland’s second tallest. “Now just sit into your harness,” Cosgrove instructed. Straighten your legs more. Widen your feet. Start walking down.
On August 12, we rappellers got awesome views of downtown Portland and the Willamette River on a hot, sunny day. The point was to raise funds and awareness for Northwest Battle Buddies, a national nonprofit that gifts fully trained service dogs to veterans with PTSD.
Northwest Battle Buddies
About 12 years ago, a veteran came to Shannon Walker, a professional dog trainer in Battleground, Washington, and asked her to train his service dog.
“I’d trained service dogs before,” Walker told me as we stood on the roof of Big Pink, waiting our turn to rappel. “But I never experienced what I experienced when I helped him through that process. I saw him change through the training of his service dog. I saw him find courage inside himself to lead her places he was afraid to go alone. And I saw him be willing to do for her what he wasn’t even willing to do for himself. Out of everything I’d ever accomplished in the dog world, nothing compared to how I felt when I watched him walk away with her.”
That was 212 service dogs ago. The experience motivated Walker to found Northwest Battle Buddies. She also serves as CEO.
Walker always respected veterans, thanks to her father, a veteran himself. “When you’re in the presence of a veteran, you’re in the presence of a hero,” she said. “That’s how he taught me.”
The service dogs are mostly English labs, English cream golden retrievers, Australian Labradoodles, plus some mixed breeds. It takes five months to train one service dog. Then, the veteran trains with their dog for five weeks. The pair must pass a test before going home together. Every year, they return for an afternoon to recertify.
“That way we have accountability to the dog’s weight, his vaccinations. We see the relationship. But we also see that they’re still handling with excellence.”
Rappelling for a purpose
Rappelling is just the latest in a series of Northwest Battle Buddies fundraisers. “We’ve had other crazy events,” COO Ovie Muntean tells me, citing skydiving and bungee jumping as some of the more noteworthy. “But I’ve never done this one before. I’m excited, nervous.”
Muntean seems like a thrill seeker, but he’s not here just for kicks. “I’ll do anything to make a difference. And the purpose of this fundraiser event is to raise awareness in the Northwest about our American heroes, the invisible wounds of war, what they have to fight when they come back. Their battle just begins. It’s an internal battle that there’s no cure for that we know of.” Muntean is very proud of his son, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and his daughter, who served in the U.S. Air Force.
Why rappelling? “I feel that anything that’s out of the normal attracts attention,” Muntean said. “And it’s also fun for the people to participate.”
At the Big Pink event, fundraising rappellers each had a $2,000 target. Not everybody hit the goal, but some went over and above. Gary Cummings, an 87-year-old participant, raised roughly $5,000.
“We need money to operate,” Muntean said. “We don’t charge the veteran a penny for the service dog. But the highly professionally trained service dog costs us $25,000. And we couldn’t do it without the help of the community at large.”
Going over the edge
How do you set up a rappelling fundraiser? You hire professionals like Over the Edge, a Canada-based company that has helped nonprofits worldwide raise more than $135 million via urban rappelling events since 2008. Their team at Big Pink was friendly but no-nonsense about safety. I was reprimanded twice: once for leaning over the edge to take photos of a rappeller (if I dropped the phone, I could kill someone below) and once for getting in their workspace without wearing a helmet. I appreciated how careful they were.
After suiting up in a harness, gloves, and helmet, we got a safety lesson inside the building on a demo rope. Then we went up to the roof, where Over the Edge had two ropes set up dangling off. I rappelled at the same time as Michael Curtis, a fundraising superstar known for his epic stand-up paddleboard journeys in support of Northwest Battle Buddies.
We had to climb up stepladders to reach the ledge, then stand with our backs to downtown. Having only rappelled off rocks before, the slick building was a bit of a challenge. My legs started to get tired a few floors down, and I wondered “Geez, do they wax this thing?” They probably do.
It was a thrill to be so high up with a viewpoint I’d never seen before. I gazed down at the Willamette River, where I’d been swimming that morning, and our city looked so beautiful. Still, it was a relief to reach the bottom!
On such a gorgeous summer day, pumped up from the thrill of an epic descent, it’s all good feelings. But the underlying purpose is to bring more good feelings to our veterans. Every day in the U.S., approximately 22 veterans take their own lives, due in part to PTSD. That’s roughly 8,000 a year.
On the roof of Big Pink, Walker emphasized the most important point. “We’ve provided 212 service dogs. We have not lost one veteran to suicide.”
Northwest Battle Buddies hopes to make the rappel an annual event. But you don’t have to wait until next year. Donate here anytime.