Thanks to the hard fund-raising work of a church in rural Ligonier, and the generosity of those in the community, five (5) Indiana State Police K-9s will be able to perform their duties in a safer manner.
According to Gary J. Ford, Pastor of the Richville United Methodist Church, his congregation took the initiative to conduct a fund-raising effort from January through March of this year which raised enough money to purchase three (3) ballistic vests for the K-9s assigned to the Fort Wayne Post and for the two (2) K-9s assigned to the Bremen Post. Each vest is valued at $650.00.
Wednesday afternoon at the Fort Wayne Post, Pastor Ford presented the vests to the K-9 teams of Senior Trooper Nicholas K. Meade and “Jake”, Trooper Christopher L. Davis and “Duke”, Trooper Tyson M. Waldron and “Zeus”,
Master Trooper David E. Caswell and “Chase” and to Trooper Kyle A. Glaze and “Nala”.
“We at Richville UMC graciously turn over these vests to the Indiana State Police with the thought being to keep these K-9s and their handlers safer in the future”, said Pastor Ford.
“This gift from the Richville UMC shows the tremendous support we have from members of the community and the belief they have in what our K-9 teams are doing on a day-to-day basis. They value that support and work tirelessly to earn it each and every day, with each and every interaction. Our K-9 teams are extremely humbled, yet honored by this donation”, said Sergeant Ron Galaviz, Public Information Officer for the Fort Wayne Post.
