At the Oct. 13 City Council meeting, the Rotary Club of Santa Clara (www.santaclararotary.org) donated $10,000 to the Sean M. Walsh K-9 Memorial Foundation (www.seansk9s.org) to purchase and train a new police dog for the Santa Clara Police Department.
“The Santa Clara Police Department is appreciative of the generous contributions from the Rotary Club of Santa Clara and the Sean M. Walsh K-9 Memorial Foundation,” said SCPD Chief Michael Sellers. “The K-9 will serve as a dual-purpose dog for detecting explosives and tracking suspects.”
“We are very grateful for this generous donation by the Rotary Club of Santa Clara,” said Cheryl Walsh, founder and president of the Sean M. Walsh K-9 Memorial Foundation. “The community and businesses of the City Santa Clara have embraced our Foundation, the same way the Santa Clara Police Department embraced my son as an Explorer Cadet.”
The Foundation made its first grant to the Santa Clara Police Department in April 2012, enabling the purchase of Argo. Subsequent grants allowed the department to bring Dex on board in 2014 and Ranger earlier this year.
“We are very pleased and honored to support and partner with the Sean M. Walsh K-9 Memorial Foundation,” said Rotary donation sponsor Joe Sweeney. “This donation and partnership underscores our support to the Santa Clara Police Department by helping them with the right tools to do their job in keeping our community safe.”
Founded in memory of California Army National Guard SPC Sean M. Walsh, killed on November 16, 2011 in Khost Afghanistan, the Sean M. Walsh K-9 Memorial Foundation has enabled the purchase of thirteen (13) K-9s in California and New York. Walsh’s ambition was to become a police officer and a K-9 handler after he returned from Afghanistan.