Just a note to say THANK YOU to all of you that have supported this dream I had and turned K9s4Cops.org into a reality for hundreds of deserving officers. Five years ago this week, I just happen to be walking in front of the television and saw the tragedy that would forever change my life along with Officer Ted Dahlin who lost his beloved K9 Blek. Although we didnt know one another my heart broke for him in a way that is only felt deep in your heart accompanied by many tears. I knew I wanted to help in some way. Within a week while most was preparing to ring in the 2010 New Years I had Google Maps blown up on the wall and colored push pins of potential areas that needed K9’s. I sat my husband and little girl down (who was just three at the time) and explained this was a calling for me. I vividly recall my husband John saying “if no one else has done a charity like this maybe its not realistic for a reason — all our 3 year daughter got out of the conversation was that we were potentially going to get a “Buncha Puppies” as she squealed in delight. I started making phone calls to politicians, sending emails to law enforcement officials and writing letters. I called our lawyers and met with the Governor — who shook his head and said to give any piece of equipment THAT expensive to a department, that the idea would never fly - in fact, it was crazy. I had many vacuous politicians tell me to just raise money and give it to their campaigns and they would make sure the police were compensated. I was also given the advice don’t even do this anonymously since it could help me out of a ticket if I ever got one in that specific jurisdiction. My personal frustration ensued. I spent many discouraging hours pulling my hair (heart racing) wondering how many brick walls could a person hit in a mission to save the world??? God, would throw me a bone occasionally to show me there was light at the end of the tunnel. My wonderful K9 trainer I had at the time found a dog (driving down a random road lost) that was chained to a tree in a trailer park. He knocked on the door and asked the lady if she was interested in selling it. That beautiful boy, K9 Boomer and his handler Deputy Dave Thomas has confiscated over $6 Million in contraband to date. When we became a full non-profit 2011, I never dreamed we would give a dog outside of Houston - much less in twenty states and growing each quarter!!! We are blessed to say, as of December 2014 there are 45 agencies that are 75 dogs richer and there is in excess of $65 million in contraband off the streets and this number grows daily. As I was reflecting Christmas, this time a year ago over the tragedy of Sandy Hook, I wondered why can’t we do more to protect these innocent children. It then dawned on me the level of socialization a lot of these K9’s had. I personally have four (each trained in a different language - yeah sounds like the United Nations at my house when you tell one to “sit” ) With as many returning veterans that we have trained in K9’s or handlers already certified that could act as a deterrent in schools it makes perfect sense to keep these visual deterrents on staff roaming the halls as an extra layer of protection. This would make a potential active shooter think twice about fine tuning the logistics of a master plan knowing there was a K9 on the other end willing to take a bullet for these kids, especially fined-tuned machines that sniffed out gunpowder or explosives. By January 2014 K9s4KIDs was born. We are proud to say this year we placed a half a dozen schools with socialized narcotic and explosive trained K9’s Our team has had many bonuses down this journey that we have taken.... we consider defining moments for us— from being featured at the Rose Bowl, numerous national magazine and global television appearances and more accolades that there is space to list. We want to be clear we are the “elves” in the workshop and let there be no infusion, the REAL TRUE heroes are the men and women that put on the badge and daily grant us the privilege to walk among the streets safely. As humans we have yet to reinvent any machine that can duplicate the abilities of the K9. My now dear friend, Officer Ted Dahlin said it best.... “All they want in return is a little love” -- God Bless you and yours this Christmas. Merry Merry and Happy New Year Psalms 20:4 Kristi Schiller Founding Chairman K9s4COPs
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 18:15:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015