The Kiwanis Club Supports a K9 Unit

A child welfare organization, Hope Children’s Home (hopechildrenshome.org) provides housing and education to kids in need of rescue. Hope Children’s Home is affiliated with professional organizations such as the Florida Association of Christian Child Caring Agencies, and other nonprofits, like Kiwanis International, a global community that aims to improve the lives of kids.

The Kiwanis Club of Martin County, in Florida, recently implemented a fund-raising initiative for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. This initiative was inspired by the death of Cigo, a police dog, who was shot and killed in December 2019 while chasing a suspect. The passing of the dog deeply affected students in the club’s youth-sponsored programs, so the club reached out to the Sheriff’s Office about donating bullet-proof vests for its police dogs, or K9s, and raising money for the canine unit.

Officer Ryan Pearlman informed the club that the dogs had bullet-proof vests already. What the unit actually needed were donations to buy K9 training equipment, like muzzles, bite suits, special leashes, and harnesses.

The Kiwanis Club of Martin County took swift action and began contacting clubs at the schools that it works with, including Key Clubs and K-Kids Clubs, as well as the Builders Club at Stuart Middle School. After watching a demonstration of the K9 unit, the clubs began raising money for the necessary donations via such projects as bake sales and the sale of Support the Canines pins.

Due to these efforts, the Canine Unit received $2,000 in donations for training supplies before the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a halt. The Florida Kiwanis Foundation also gave the Kiwanis Club of Martin County two grants to further support its work.