Purple Heart recipient Sgt. Rick Yarosh of Sweethearts & Heroes visited campus in late February to read his book,
A Bridge Named Amos, to our Raiders!
Yarosh, who sustained life-changing injuries while serving in Iraq, wrote a book geared toward readers in Grades K-5 about his late service dog and the power of HOPE (Hold On, Possibilities Exist). Told from Amos’ perspective, the book follows Amos’ true story.
Yarosh adopted Amos on Aug. 12, 2012, from Puppies Behind Bars, which trains incarcerated individuals to raise service dogs for veterans and first responders. The lovable black Lab traveled nearly 100,000 miles and logged more than 1,000 hours on the road with Yarosh and Sweethearts &
Heroes, a student empowerment and empathy activation organization directed by Tom Murphy.
Amos, who built a bridge to Yarosh for thousands of students – and vice versa – sadly died just as the book went to press in October 2024.
“I’m thrilled to share Amos’ legacy with our friends in New York,” Yarosh said. “Everyone who met Amos loved him. I will always remember when we were at schools and we met children who were afraid of dogs, I would tell them that Amos was the perfect dog to help with that fear. He was the gentlest dog I’ve ever known. He was like my child. I was never lonely when Amos was there.”
A Bridge Named Amos is available for purchase on Amazon and the Sweethearts & Heroes’ website.
Photos courtesy of Sweethearts & Heroes.
Posted 2/17/2025 ... Updated 3/3/2025