On a day when $5,000 and $10,000 checks were being presented to non-profit organizations by Meijer stores all over Illinois, the Danville Meijer presented donated $10,000 to Mission K9 Warrior. At 10 AM Tuesday (Nov 10) morning, the donation became official. K9 Warrior president and founder Dave Hughes, who has seen his idea for helping Veterans grow to 50 trained dogs personally assigned to Veterans over the last decade; reminded CIMG that a donation like this, which can cover half the cost for a newly trained dog, is a wonderful gift. He reminded everyone that these dogs are protectors for Veterans; everything from waking them up from nightmares, to helping relax while out and about in public.
AUDIO: It’s a heck of a start for another dog that can be prepared for a Veteran. It seems like this year the awareness is getting a little better. It would really be helpful if more businesses would try to partner with us on this. The board members do not get paid a penny. We do this all volunteer.
(L to R) Mission K9 Warrior Board members Jennifer Kruger and Melissa Hill; Founder and President Dave Hughes, Board Chair Neil Stephens, and First Responder Cody Cochran.
Sharri Askren from Meijer Human Resources said the decision to present their store’s check to Mission K9 Warrior came by vote of the team members that work at the Danville store.
AUDIO: We had a family day event where a lot of our team members came to eat, and celebrate just being here at Meijer. (Over the) next few weeks, we actually got more votes, and they came up with Mission K9 Warrior.
For current Mission K9 Warrior Board Chair Neil Stephens, this was an early gift for the holiday season.
Mission K9 Warrior founder and president Dave Hughes (left) hangs on to $10,000 donation display check with Danville Meijer Store Director Moses Cheruiyot (right).
AUDIO: Awesome Christmas present. Thanksgiving’s coming up. We couldn’t be any more thankful than to have Meijer drop a $10,000 check on us. (It) definitely relieves some of the burden. Not saying that we’re going to slow down by any means, but it kind of gives you a chance to exhale though.
Store Director Moses Cheruiyot pointed out that Danville Meijer employees chose all organizations nominated for the donation, and Mission K9 Warriors was a very popular choice.
AUDIO: So I think we have team members that probably have worked with them; or did something with the team. So every organization that came to us came from the team members. And then we had to choose to organization that had the most votes from our team.
