The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation is giving out $76,000 worth of grants to eight local police departments, the foundation announced yesterday. Here is part of the press release issued to the foundation’s website.
“The K-9 departments receiving funding from Ben this year include the Arnold Police Department, Castle Shannon Police Department, Findlay Township Police Department, Ligonier Township Police Department, Mt. Oliver Police Department, Penn Hills Police Department, West Mifflin Borough Police Department, and the
Wheeling West Virginia Police Department. These departments will be utilizing their respective grants in a variety of canine-focused initiatives including the purchase and training of new K-9s, replacing and upgrading K-9 vehicles, and the acquisition of new safety & training equipment.”
Those police departments are local to Pittsburgh and Ohio, including his hometown of Findlay.
Developing and training a new K-9 unit averages anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000. Roethlisberger’s Foundation has been established for several years now, donating $90,000 in 2016.
This year, he pledged to donate $1000 to K9 departments after every single Pittsburgh Steelers’ touchdown. He threw 29 touchdowns this season, the third most in his career.
Roethlisberger’s website has a great list of quotes from police departments receiving grants this season. You can read them all at the link. Here’s one example.
“Sgt. James Friscarella said, “On behalf of the Ligonier Township Police and K-9 Kilo, I would like to send a heartfelt thank you for providing us with the grant to help fund our K-9 program. Without the help of the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, we would not be able to outfit our program with the latest in technology to keep Kilo and I safe. This grant is accepted in the memory of Lt. Eric Eslary who was killed in the line of duty in 2015. The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation had previously funded Lt. Eslary’s K-9 program with K-9 Blek. Thank you again.”
The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation was created in 2009.
