Donations

Our services are not called on often.  But when they are, they are usually true emergencies.

– a senior citizen becomes disoriented and wonders off,

– a mentally challenged individual has run away,

– an autistic child has become fixated on going somewhere and takes off into the night,

– a hunter twists or breaks an ankle while tracking a wounded deer,

– a flood occurs or a tornado touches down causing wide spread damages,

– a person has an auto accident, dazed and confused they stumble off into the woods,

– a gas explosion levels an apartment building,

– a canoeist overturns and is lost in a creek,

– a person has a psychotic break and disappears into a state forest

– a hiker miscalculates their trip and in trying to bushwhack a short cut becomes lost in the dark and their cell phone dies or has no signal.

All of these incidents have actually happened in Southeastern Pennsylvania and our immediate neighboring states.

All of these required search and rescue teams and the K9’s that assist them.

​

Can you honestly say that you or your family will never, ever be touched by a similar incident?

​

We are a 100% volunteer service.  We do not charge for any of our services.  All costs are borne by the members of the team and the organization.

Members purchase most of their own gear, boots, backpacks, supplies, and radios.  They pay their own tolls, gas and food.  Many times for searches they will take off work and lose vacation days or income.

In addition, K9 handlers provide their own dogs, do their own training, pay for all vet services, pay for attending seminar’s, and pay for their certifications and testing. Their four legged partners often suffer cut paws, cut ears, scratches from briars, twisted joints and sprained ligaments and muscles. In some cases, these dogs can suffer severe injuries.  All medical treatment is borne by the handlers.

The insurance alone for the team is approximately $5000.00 a year.  We would like to help pay for instructors and seminars.  We would like to acquire some basic team equipment and supplies.  Some day we would like to cover veterinarian bills for our K9’s by providing some pet insurance to our members.  We’d also like to cover gas and tolls for members responding to searches.  Ideally, we’d like to have steady funds of $12,000 – $15,000 a year.

After team members spend hundreds of hours in training, it is difficult to ask them to spend hours every month to do fund raising activities.

​

We would like to help members defray some costs but that all depends on you!

​

We rely on private donations by generous individuals like yourself to keep the team functioning.  We do not get any government funding.  If we are awarded grants, the grant monies are typically designated funds and must be used specifically for what the grant was written for.  Most grants are for specific items and cannot be used for general expenses of the team such as insurance, gas, tolls, vet bills.

We are also trying to provide for the long term future for the team.  While it is very difficult for us to currently do at this stage,  our goal is that 50% of all non-designated funds will be deposited into a trust fund that benefits the team.  Once deposited into the fund, the main principal will never be withdrawn.  Only a portion of the earned interest will be dispersed to the team.  We estimate that we need to grow the fund to about $150,000.  At that point, we’ll have a reliable, and stable source of income to support the team.  We must make sure we provide for the future.  We know this will take years to accomplish.  But the sooner we start, the sooner we will reach that goal.

All donations to our team are fully tax deductible as we are a 501(c)(3) charity.

As a donor to our organization you can receive a yearly accounting of all our financial activity so you can see exactly where our money is spent and how it is used.  We promise 100% transparency to our donors.

Compared to most charities and organizations, our costs are minimal.  Your donation makes a real impact to our team and is greatly appreciated.  We hope you will consider providing our team with a yearly contribution to help us be there when a family needs us to find their loved one.

​

​

​

Please send all donations to:

​

K9 Detection and Search Foundation

​

1255 Buck Lane

​

West Chester, PA 19382