“Thanks to the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, the Connellsville Police Department was able to add K-9 Ambroos to the force last year. He is utilized near daily by our department and neighboring departments, making our program well-known and reputable after just a few short months in service. We also dedicated our K-9 vehicle to Mr. Roethlisberger by identifying it as unit 7 and placing the Steelers’ emblem on the front bumper. Our program is young and very successful so far, and with this most recent assistance from the Foundation we will continue to grow and expand our success.” — Officer J. Tyler Garlick, Connellsville Police Department.


Today, Ben announced the final grants of the 2019-20 season from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund. The Foundation will be distributing eight grants to police and fire K-9 programs in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas.

The K-9 departments receiving funding from the Ben’s Foundation this year include the Borough of Homestead Police, City of Beaver Falls Fire Department, City of Butler Police Department, Columbiana Police Department (OH), Connellsville Police Department, Martins Ferry Police Department (OH), Indiana Township Police Department and Uniontown City Police Department.

These departments will be utilizing their respective grants in a variety of canine-focused initiatives including the establishment of new K-9 units, replacement of retiring dogs, purchasing of safety and training equipment, and training and certification of new and existing K-9s among other K-9 related expenses.

“[We are] extremely grateful to the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation for their generous donation to the Accelerant Detection Canine program. Our program relies on the generosity of donors to safely provide services to fire and law enforcement agencies across Western Pennsylvania. Thanks to the support, K-9 Patty can continue to make a huge difference in Beaver County and far beyond. Mr. Roethlisberger’s love and support of canines is truly admirable and we cannot thank him enough!” — Captain David Seidl, City of Beaver Falls Fire Department.


The mission of the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation is to support K-9 units of police and fire departments throughout the United States, with a particular emphasis on service dogs in Pittsburgh, PA. The Foundation has distributed in excess of $2.2 million since 2007, $1.8 million of which has specifically benefited K-9 programs. In addition, Ben has hosted a number of events to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, his high school alma mater and other organizations close to his heart.

“This will go towards keeping our dogs healthy and the equipment that is needed to keep them safe. Lt. Brian Grooms and his partner Chooch and Officer Andrew Niederlander with his partner Rico are extremely thankful for this opportunity and can’t wait to work with the community. The Canine program is funded solely through contributions from the community and any grants that we can receive. We are proud to have the canines back on the road in the City of Butler and look forward to their assistance in our mission to keep Butler a safe place to work and live.” — Chief Bob O’Neill, City of Butler Police Department.


We are so grateful for our generous supporters who have enabled us to maintain this K-9 grant program, including ProCamps, as well as caring individual donors from around the country.

“We appreciate the Foundation helping us with our K-9 efforts. We will apply the funding toward the purchase of a dog and training costs. The residents of Columbiana really support this department and have donated thousands of dollars to help us with the K-9 Program. I have 39 years in law enforcement and have never seen the level of support that we enjoy here. I guess that’s one reason that Reader’s Digest selected Columbiana as ‘The Nicest Place in America’ in 2019. You can check out the article in the November 2019 issue. We will assign the dog and handler to our HEAT initiative. The acronym stands for ‘Hometown Enforcement Against Trafficking’ and we use robotic machine learning and artificial intelligence programs to identify crime trends to proactively prevent crimes from happening. We attack three kinds of trafficking – Drug Trafficking, Human Trafficking and Trafficking in stolen goods. The addition of K-9 teams will be a major boost to those efforts.” — Chief Tim Gladis, Columbiana Police Department (OH).


The mission of the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation is to support K-9 units of police and fire departments throughout the United States, with a particular emphasis on service dogs in Pittsburgh, PA. The Foundation has distributed in excess of $2.2 million since 2007, $1.8 million of which has specifically benefited K-9 programs. In addition, Ben has hosted a number of events to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, his high school alma mater and other organizations close to his heart.

“On behalf of [our] Police Department, Indiana Township Board of Supervisors and the Community as a whole, I would like to extend my sincerest thank you to the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation for awarding our Department a grant to assist with the purchase of our new K-9 Toki. This is Indiana Township’s third K-9 with the assistance of the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation. The Township began the K-9 program in 2004 with Officer Scott Palmer. The K-9 program continues to grow and improve with the help of not only the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation but the continued support of members of our local community. The residents of Indiana Township along with the surrounding communities generously make donations and hold fundraising events that make this program possible and successful. We are proud to have the only explosive trained dog within all the North Hills’ boroughs and townships. This added training assists not only Indiana Township but the entire North Hills community making our home a safer place for all. K-9 Officer Scott Palmer and K-9 Toki will continue to assist other Departments in the North Hills and look forward to a successful future.” — Chief Timothy Michael, Indiana Township Police Department.


This announcement completes the 13th grant cycle for Ben’s Foundation, during which he distributed 14 grants totaling more than $80,000 to K-9 units around the country. Ben invited police and fire departments located in and around the cities and communities in which the Steelers played to submit proposals detailing their needs.

“The Martins Ferry Police K-9 unit is very grateful to have been selected for the Ben Roethlisberger grant. The Department has recently put a new K9 into service due to an unexpected retirement of the previous K-9. The grant will be used to purchase training equipment to keep the K9 unit in peak performance. The department would like to thank the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation for your continued support of our K9 unit.” — K-9 Handler John Holmes, Martins Ferry Police Department (OH).


Fans!

Sarris Candies teamed up with Ben again this past NFL season donating 25 percent of the purchase price of their candy to the his foundation. Now THAT’S a SWEET DEAL!

You can support future K-9 grants by purchasing candy on their website, (www.SarrisCandiesFundraising.com)! Just use a special purchase code of 77-7777 when ordering.

Thank you to Sarris Candies!

And thank you to Sugarlands Distilling Company in Gatlinburg, TN for teaming up with us this year! You can purchase this awesome t-shirt from them – 100% of the proceeds go to Ben’s Foundation!


For more information about Ben’s foundation or The Giving Back Fund, please contact Jessica Duffaut at www.givingback.org.