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Date: 6/26/2023
MONSON — Paws 4 Blue K-9 will host its first annual Police K9 Fundraiser on Saturday, July 22 at the Westview Farms Creamery from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Festivities include police K9 and sport dog demonstrations, a playground for children, farm animals, homemade ice cream and delicious food from the Grill. Attendees will get a chance to meet police K9s Marvin from the Amherst Police Department, Sampson, retired from the Ware Police Department, Flexx from the Springfield Police Department, Kino and Kole from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office, and sport dog Shiva. They’ll also enjoy Christmas in July Craft Fair and Interskate 91 will bring K9 Chase from Paw Patrol.
“We’re trying to raise as much money as possible for our Buddy Foundation,” said founder Jan Garabedian. “We’re a new organization and we’re looking for companies that would like to sponsor the Buddy Foundation. Any donation there would go right into that for the K9s. 100 percent of donations and a percentage of merchandise sold from our online store and live events we attend go directly into the Buddy Foundation.”
She continued, “Because we’re new, we’re still building our funds and 100% of donations go into the Buddy Foundation merchandise that we sell in our store. We’ll also be selling the day of the event and a percentage of those proceeds also go into the Buddy Foundation.”
Paws 4 Blue K-9’s mission is to help K9 teams from agencies that do not have an allocated budget signed to the K9 program which is funded by donations. Garabedian expanded the mission to include retired police dogs as well. She told Reminder Publishing when a working dog approaches retirement, they lose any benefits they may have had. They typically retire because of their age, and older dogs just like your own pets will have medical issues at some point. This is where Paws 4 Blue K9 can help.
The inspiration behind Paws 4 Blue K-9 is from a K9 named Buddy. Garabedian met him in 2014 when the Palmer Police Department implemented the K9 program. K9 Buddy served the department for six years. His skills helped solve missing or wanted persons. He was trained in patrol work which included handler protection, narcotic detection, evidence searches and suspect apprehension. In February of 2021, K9 Buddy retired and in September of that year, he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. K9 Buddy died on April 1, 2022.
Since then, Garabedian has been on a quest to help K9 teams raise the funds they need. She realized how many teams are out there that do not have a budget for police departments, and they’re running on donations. For several years, Garabedian has been doing fundraising and now she realized she needed to expand that, so she started her own business. “The turning point for me was how I felt after Buddy passed away,” Garabedian explained. “I loved this dog like he was my own. To keep Buddy’s legacy alive, I formed Paws 4 Blue K-9 and created the Buddy Fountain in the fall of 2022 in K9 Buddy’s memory.” She went on to say, “This is where K9 teams that need help can come to apply for funds for emergency medical expenses, essential equipment and training.”
Garabedian’s goal for Paws 4 Blue K-9 is to be able to help other K9 teams nationally, have the funds there to help anyone that needs their help and be successful. She would love for folks to be more knowledgeable on why these dogs are so vital to the police department. They can do things that human officers cannot do.
“These are highly trained working dogs, and their skill set is amazing,” said Garabedian. “Particularly their sense of smell. When you’re looking for a person that’s lost, every second counts.”
To learn more about Paws 4 Blue K-9, visit their website at www.paws4bluek9.com. For more information about the fundraiser, email info@paws4bluek9.com. You can mail donations to Paws 4 Blue K-9 at P.O. Box 101, Palmer, MA 01069.