Honor Credit Union is partnering with the Friends of Calhoun County Dog Parks Committee to sponsor our first annual Howl-O-Ween Pawty at the Home Run Dog Park on October 31st from 1-3 PM. A portion of the fundraising at this event will go to support the Battle Creek Police K-9 Unit in the acquisition of a new dog for the program.
The staff at Honor Credit Union have been involved with fundraising for the K-9 program since 2015. The original idea was started by an employee at Post Community Credit Union, which later merged with HCU in 2017.
The first sponsorship in 2015 helped to add the Belgian Malinois dog named Ace to the BCPD K-9 Unit. PCCU placed jars at their branch locations for donations, held public fundraising events with K-9 demonstrations and concurrently backed the project up with a strong social media campaign. They also held a naming contest, and the name Ace was chosen from the 2008 movie ‘Ace of Hearts‘ which is a story about a police dog.
In 2016, PCCU sponsored a second dog, this time for the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department. The main fundraising for this project was a Halloween dog costume contest held at the Calhoun County Fairgrounds. They also held K-9 demonstrations at Marshall and Pennfield public schools, as well as a T-shirt contest where winners were chosen from both classes of students. The dog, another Belgium Malinois, added to the Sheriff’s department that year was ultimately named Rizzo.
In 2017, Post Community Credit Union merged with Honor Credit Union and continued the K-9 sponsorship program. In this year, HCU sponsored two new patrol dogs. As part of efforts for raising funds for both dogs, they placed donation jars with a naming contest at all branch locations.
The first was Roseco (pronounced ‘Ross-co’), who now belongs to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department as an active member of the force. Honor Credit Union donated $5000 towards the purchase of Roseco, whose name is a tribute to fallen Wayne State University Police Officer, Collin Rose.
To raise the funds needed, HCU held an event at Latitude 42 with K-9 Demonstrations. Another similar event was later held at Boatyard Brewing where a special beer entitled ‘Roseco Ale‘ was introduced. HCU again held a T-Shirt contest at local elementary schools, and the student created shirts were sold as part of the fundraiser.
The second dog they sponsored in 2017 was named Copper, who now belongs to the Emmett Township Police Department. HCU donated $5000 to assist in the purchase of Copper, and held another T-shirt contest with local elementary schools. Additionally they held a K-9 Demonstration event at JB’s Whiskey Creek in Springfield.
Dogs in the K-9 program are trained to track individuals, find lost items, detect the odor of narcotics and also protect their handler in dangerous situations. Both the dogs and their handlers go through a rigorous K-9 academy to learn to work together as a team.
Following graduation, the K-9’s partnership requires continual training both at home and at work. The partnerships last for the working life of the dog, which is typically six to nine years, unless the dog is disabled in the line of duty. At the end of their careers, the K-9s are given to their handlers to begin a well earned retirement.
In 2019, adding a new dog to the Battle Creek Police Department K-9 Unit became the next focus for HCU. They again donated $5000 to assist with the purchasing of Felix, who was named after retired police Lt. Ray Felix. They again placed donation jars at all locations, and topped off the campaign with a huge fundraiser complete with a K-9 demonstration with their friends at JB’s Whiskey Creek.
Since the project began in 2015, the staff of Honor Credit Union (which includes many former Post Community Credit Union employees) have sponsored five new dogs for the K-9 programs in various law enforcement departments in Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties.
In 2020, HCU launched a new project to acquire Skube for the BCPD K-9 unit. Skube is named after Major Steve Bush, who is in charge of the K9 training group and known by the nickname ‘Skuba Steve’ my the trainees he has mentored. He will represent the 3rd K-9 (joining Ace and Felix in the unit) that Honor Credit Union has helped make possible for the BCPD.
For this new campaign, Honor Credit Union has again donated another $5000 towards the purchase of the new dog, which will be their sixth overall K-9 sponsorship. HCU will be holding three separate events to raise awareness of the project, and to raise funds for the purchase of Skube. Skube will be assigned to Officer Jim Bailey, his future handler in the BCPD.
One of the upcoming HCU Sponsorship events is our very own Howl-O-Ween Pawty at the Home Run Dog Park on Saturday, October 31st!
So mark your calendar, and come out with your dog dressed in a storybook themed costume, and enjoy the event which will be held from 1-3 PM!
There will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards in categories for the Scariest Costume, Silliest Costume, Most Original Costume and Best Costume Duo (human and dog) as well as Best Overall! Special gifts will be provided by Pet Supplies Plus of Battle Creek.
A portion of the funds raised by the pet portraits taken by Redbow Photography at this event will go towards the project to acquire Skube for the BCPD! This event will also feature a special K-9 demonstration across the street from the dog park. You do not want to miss it!
If you would like to donate directly to the K-9 project to acquire Skube, click here. Otherwise, don your most creative pawty outfit and join us on Howl-O-Ween!
