Today, Ben announced the 11th and 12th grant awards of the 2017 season from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The Foundation will be distributing grants to the West Chester Police Department in Ohio and the Fort Mitchell Police Department in Kentucky, both just outside of Cincinnati where the Steelers will play the Bengals this evening.

“The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation grant affords the West Chester Police Department the opportunity to build upon its critically important canine unit, taking a step closer to the 3-member full complement of our unit. The community is grateful for the grant and will gladly welcome a new canine to the West Chester Police Department.” — West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog.


hidinginthesnow_340The West Chester Police will use the grant funds to replace a recently retired K-9.

More from Chief Herzog, “Early in my career with the West Chester Police Department, I had the opportunity to partner with a canine and learned firsthand the value these four-legged officers bring to law enforcement efforts. To the public, they serve as great ambassadors opening doors to build relationships with the community; but a canine officer and handler together play an integral role in searches and tracking dangerous suspects with demonstrated success in making our communities safer.”

The Fort Mitchell Police will use the funds to help maintain their K-9 unit.

“The Fort Mitchell Police Department was fortunate enough to start a police K-9 program earlier this year through the generosity of community support. We are very excited that the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation has selected our agency as a recipient of a grant to further assist our program so that K-9 Tony and Specialist Best can continue their great work. As a smaller agency, it can sometimes be difficult to support a K-9 unit. This grant will provide significant help to us to keep our program running strong.” — Fort Mitchell Chief of Police Col. Andrew J. Schierberg.



Steelers fans:

You can help support future K-9 grants by purchasing candy on Sarris Candies’ website, (www.SarrisCandiesFundraising.com), using a special purchase code (77-7777). Sarris will donate 25 percent of the purchase price to the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation.


For more information about the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation or The Giving Back Fund, please contact Jessica Duffaut at www.givingback.org.