Giving Back

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On Wednesday, September 16th I had the honor of giving back to my local Police Department. Specifically to their K9 Unit.

Some of you know last year I decided to make it a personal goal to give back to our local heroes, starting with the Fire Station room makeover. This year I decided I wanted to give back to a local K9 Unit.

I’ve been a long time supporter of two organizations: Mass Vest A Dog and Vested Interests.  Both supply Police dogs with bullet proof vests. Originally, I contacted a couple of K9 Units to see if they needed a vest, thinking I could work with one of these organizations to raise the funds for a vest. It turned out the Police departments I contacted, thankfully, already had vests. I asked the Marlborough Police Dept to let me know if they needed anything else for their K9 Unit. A few weeks ago Officer McKenzie let me know he and his K9 Kaiser had an opportunity to go to Tactical Tracking and Apprehension Training. I was thrilled with the opportunity to help raise the funds to get them there. I immediately got started on making a flyer and I emailed the Marlborough Savings Bank to inquire about setting up a bank account or fund for this. When Deborah Campbell, a Senior VP at Marlborough Savings Bank heard what I was doing, she let me know the bank wanted to be the donor! I was floored. I never had an easier time fundraising. I couldn’t believe she offered to do this when I hadn’t even asked them for a donation!

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Two weeks later, I met Chief Leonard, Officer McKenzie and K9 Kaiser at the bank for a meet and greet. I am so grateful to Deborah and Marlborough Savings Bank for helping to make this possible and to the Marlborough Police Dept for letting me reach my goal this year of giving back to local heroes.

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Some have asked me why I wanted to give back to a K9 unit this year. Last year I chose a Fire Dept because my dad was a Firefighter. What most of you don’t know is in January of this year I had to put my German Shepherd Ryker to sleep. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I’ve had German Shepherds my whole life and have had to put them to sleep before, it’s never easy but Ryker and I had a bond that I can’t describe. Two months after he passed one of my cousins called me to see if I could foster a female German Shepherd.  While I prefer goofy male GSD’s who have a mischief side, I agreed to take her for a few weeks. Long story short she’s an amazing dog with a tracking ability like I’ve never seen before; I grew attached to her so I decided to adopt her and change her name to Zofie!.  For me, giving back to the Marlborough K9 Unit is done so in Rykers memory. Spending time with Zofie has been my priority this summer hence the lack of DIY projects / posts.  With the cooler weather in the near future I’m sure Zofie will take Rykers place as my DIY sidekick and I’ll get back to home improvements.

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If any of you are looking to give back to your local heroes (Police, Fire or Military) I encourage you to do it. These men and women put their lives on the line every day for our communities and often times don’t get the recognition and appreciation for their dedicated service. I personally think there is no profession greater then these three. I want to give my sincere thanks to all our brave men and women of our Police, Fire and Military, who often times miss family time and holidays to be sure the rest of us are safe to enjoy ours. I want to give a special thank you to Chief Leonard, Officer McKenzie, Kaiser and all the officers at Marlborough Police Dept. and to all the Firefighters at Marlborough Fire Dept. for always being ready for every 911 call, your service is deeply appreciated.

 

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