Canine Companions, Miller Family Campus, located in Medford, celebrated the grand opening of their new residence hall and kennel wing last week on Thursday, Sept. 24, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The $4 million construction project was named in honor of the donors James and Gina Nazzaro, who also graciously surprised the staff with a fountain outside the dorms as well. The event drew about 150 people.
“We’re deeply grateful to Jim and Gina,” said Debra Dougherty, senior major gifts office. “Their extraordinary generosity will help Canine Companions place more dogs with people who need them.”
The project was officially completed in August. The project originally broke ground in March 2025. Put into use immediately, the most recent Team Training class graduated on Aug. 13. They were the first batch of students to use the new facility.
The project doubles the organization’s dorm capacity from 11 to 22, allowing the organization to double their output of helping people and bringing down their waitlist. The location has about 80 to 100 people waiting for a service dog at any time.
Bay Shore construction company owner Jim Nazzaro both built and donated the new dorm wing with construction originally proposed at about $3.5 million.
Canine Companions is a national organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained service dogs at no charge to the recipient. The dogs are either golden retrievers or Labrador retrievers, or a mix of both. Volunteers raise the dogs in their homes for a year and a half, and then they come to the training center for six to nine months of training with a professional trainer.
The project, according to Canine Companions Northeast Region executive director Debra Dougherty, will double the number of service dogs they are able to match with clients by providing additional dorm rooms for their stay during trainings.
The donor, Nazzaro, is the owner of the Construction and Real Estate Development company, J. Nazzaro Partnership LP. He and his wife were also Canine Companions volunteer puppy raisers.
According to Nazzaro, his passion for the organization came from being a puppy raiser.
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