Today, Ben announced the first grant of the 2011 season from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The foundation will be distributing a grant to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, in Rockville, MD – just outside of Baltimore where the Steelers will play the Ravens on Sunday, September 11th.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office will use the grant to purchase four “K9 Storm” bullet proof vests, to help protect the department’s four highly specialized canine teams.

All members of the Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit are trained as dual purpose K9s for the detection of explosives as well as patrol functions. The grant will add another level of safety for the canines while they handle their duties both in and around the Montgomery County area, protecting the lives and property of the citizens of Maryland and surrounding states.

The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation is distributing grants to police and fire departments in Pittsburgh and in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away game for the Steelers in the 2011 season. The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation invited police and fire departments in the nine cities to submit proposals detailing their needs.

Montgomery County, Maryland, Sheriff Darren M. Popkin acknowledging the 2011 police K-9 grant stated: “The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation program recognizes the importance of well-trained K-9 teams as part our overall law enforcement efforts. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office K-9 dogs are cross trained for search, patrol and explosive detection duties. The grant funds will provide our dogs with vests that protect them from attacks with firearms and knifes while engaged in their duties.”


For more information:

Check out Ben’s Foundation page here and the Giving Back Fund’s website here.