They call dogs “man’s best friend”  for a reason. Their loyalty, especially in the disabled community, is unsurpassed.  But finding these service dogs is difficult and very costly.

Many service dog organizations charge anywhere from 5,000 to 25,000 dollars to provide a canine assistants to those in need. But an ingenious student at the University of Illinois found a way to provide these much needed dogs to disabled recipients at no cost.

The program called the Illini Service Dogs  was founded  more than two years ago by 23-year-old  Bridget Evans.

In the program, student volunteers not only train the dogs, they live with them, feed them and care for them for about a year and a half.

So far, three dogs have been placed with new owners .   An astounding number of students, more than 700, signed up to help volunteer. The only hold up is money.  If you’d like to donate, log on to www.illiniservicedogs.org.