Jim Grammatico, along with Marty McClary, was one of the very first GAGR volunteers.

When Nan and I started GAGR several years ago, one of our biggest concerns was getting the money to finance our new venture. We had lots of expenses to think about. There seemed to be large filing fees for all of the many forms that we needed to file for both New York State and the Federal government. We needed money to purchase banners for events, a tent for our outside venues, t-shirts and sweatshirts for our volunteers and eventually, we hoped, our adopters. Jim and Marty both stepped up and opened their checkbooks to us, writing check after check while we moved blindly forward on our new adventure.

Jim will NEVER admit that he volunteers for GAGR but he is always there to lend a hand by cooking hot dogs at the picnics, setting up and cleaning up events, manning a sales table when needed, inventorying GAGR merchandise, mailing purchases of GAGR merchandise, doing transports in all kinds of weather, washing incoming dogs, doing home visits, picking up returned dogs, fostering dogs fresh off the track and those returns he picked up, AND most importantly, giving excellent advice (even if it is mostly unsolicited). Jim's favorite phrase is, “I told you so!” Nan and I have heard that phrase over and over in the past five and a half years. We secretly say to each other, “Darn, he was right again!”

Jim has recently been dubbed “The Dog Whisperer” for his uncanny ability to find lost greyhounds. When we get a call that there is a lost greyhound, Jim is always the first one to grab a leash, cell phone, and squawker and head out. Usually it is in the dark of night but he never hesitates. He, more often than not, is the one returning with the lost dog.

Any of you who know Jim know that he is fond of grousing about those “damn dogs” that tie him down and keep him from going any where. If you know him well, you know that he is a big softie who talks baby talk to “his babies” and has endearing nicknames for all of them. If we are on vacation and leave the dogs, Jim says, “I wonder what my babies are doing” at least once an hour.