CMM Cares’ 15th annual charity golf outing teed off with dual purposes: partnering with America’s VetDogs and honoring the late Suffolk homicide detective and Wyandanch volunteer fireman, Jack Miller. America’s VetDogs specializes in placing highly skilled service and guide dogs with individuals who have physical injuries, PTSD, hearing and vision loss, and seizures. “We’re here for something much bigger than golf,” CMM Cares Director Julie Alberti told the crowd, dedicating the day to Detective Miller, father of America’s VetDogs CEO John Miller.
A North Babylon Fire Department color guard and a Suffolk County Police bagpiper carried the flag to the first tee. Then, one of VetDogs’ own led the National Anthem, followed by remarks from Julie Alberti, John Miller, and Joe Campolo, Strata Alliance CEO and Chairman of the Board for CMM Cares. The golfers then enjoyed a day on St. George’s golf course, known for its firm fairways, numerous bunkers, and captivating green complexes. Mid-round, golfers met smiling VetDogs teams, witnessing firsthand the companionship that has already changed more than 1,100 lives nationwide—and will change even more when the organization’s campus expansion boosts capacity by 25 percent.
By the late afternoon, scorecards were tallied, and guests enjoyed a cocktail reception at the clubhouse. Joe Campolo presented John Miller with a plaque honoring his father. “My dad loved nothing more than helping cops and firemen,” Miller said, adding that VetDogs relies entirely on gifts like those donated on Monday.
Campolo announced that the outing’s generosity would fund and name two puppies-in-training—Strata, honoring the Strata Alliance family-office network; and Georgie, honoring the host club. With each dog costing upward of $50,000 to raise and train, those gifts represent two veterans’ futures infused with independence and hope.
Trainers demonstrated PTSD-response and mobility tasks—doors opened with a gentle tug, medicine retrieved on command—drawing hushed admiration. Glasses were raised to Detective Jack Miller, to Strata and Georgie’s future handlers, and to everyone whose contributions that day will now echo in the lives of veterans and first responders who will never again have to fight their battles alone.
