Chelcie Nugent from Savannah Cirque. Photos / Miranda Osborn

The award-winning Savannah Carnaval: A Dia De Muertos Party went off with a thrill at The Clyde on Friday, October 30, 2020. Stunning costumes, thrilling masks and decorations flew around the event which featured amazing performances from Savannah Cirque, delicious food and lots of puppy love! Savannah Carnaval is SD Gunner Fund’s largest annual fundraising event — 100% of the money raised during the event is donated to help support veterans, exceptional children, first responders and their families both financially and through the training and placement of much needed service and therapy dogs. In 2019, SD Gunner Fund reinvested over $40,000 into the local community it serves. This year, SD Gunner Fund is committed to support 10 local families, more than tripling the outreach from the previous year.

Founded in 2015, SD Gunner Fund is a registered 501c3 organization which proudly serves veterans, exceptional children, first responders, and their families in the Southeast region of the United States. SD Gunner Fund is the recipient of several prestigious awards for their work in the community including the Lincoln Caregiver Award (2015), the Georgia Senate Resolution 475, the Jefferson Award (2017), AKC Award for Canine Excellence (2017), Best Fundraising Event (2020), among several others. Founder, Britnee Kinard, one of South’s Hometown Heroes of 2020 also received the Fair Housing Act Certification in 2017.

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Britnee Kinard

Britnee Kinard founded the SD Gunner Fund in 2014, inspired by her husband — a wounded veteran — and her two children. The local nonprofit, based in Richmond Hill, Georgia, works to provide service-animal assistance to veterans and disabled children by mediating costs and arranging accommodations. Passionate about helping others live their lives to the fullest, Kinard works tirelessly as a caregiver and philanthropist to improve her local community and raise international awareness about the benefits of service animals. More recently, Kinard stepped up during the COVID-19 outbreak and has been supporting local businesses and providing safe and quality meals to first responders through Operation Restaurants and Responders (R&R).