Awwww…..

Girl meets Bosco after raising thousands for him

Bosco’s ears perked up when Katie Cavanagh began to pet him Tuesday.

He leaned into her as she pet him, and Cavanagh smiled.

Bosco never strayed farther than a few feet from his partner, Zanesville Police Department Officer Mike Schiele, but he didn’t shy away from Cavanagh and her family either as they all reached in to pet Bosco.

In just a few weeks, Katie managed to raise nearly $5,000 for Bosco, who was shot twice while on duty Aug. 24.

Schiele also was shot, but he recovered more quickly than Bosco, who still goes to therapy in Columbus three times a week.

Katie Cavanagh and her father, Christopher, talk with Zanesville Police Department Officer Mike Schiele and Chief Eric Lambes. Katie raised nearly $5,000 to donate to the police department's K-9 fund after hearing Bosco, Schiele's K-9 partner, and Schiele had been shot in August. (Leeann Moore,Times Recorder)

Cavanagh and her family traveled from Westerville to meet Bosco. Cavanagh organized several bake sales in Westerville and Zanesville to raise money. She made the phone calls herself to set up the locations and get donated baked goods to sell.

“When you do stuff you don’t expect to get stuff in return, but when you do, it’s really great,” Cavanagh said. “When I started, I never thought I’d get the opportunity to meet him, and look where I am today.”

Chief Eric Lambes, who also was in attendance, said $100,000 has been donated to the police department’s K-9 fund since Bosco was shot.

“We certainly appreciate everything Katie has done. It’s good to see young people out there so civic-minded and service-minded, and willing to put forth the effort to work toward a goal and achieve a goal,” Schiele said.

Cavanagh recruited her parents, Carole and Christopher, her sister, Colleen, 14, and brothers, Kevin, 15, and Connor, 10, for help, but she did the majority of the work herself.

She collected $714 from her first fundraiser in the first two hours, raised around $2,000 at her second fundraiser at Kroger’s in Zanesville and then more than $1,000 at a Columbus Crew game.

Mayor Howard Zwelling, who declared Dec. 22 as Katie Cavanagh Day, described her as a dog lover, a humanitarian and a sweetheart.

Cavanagh’s grandparents, Dick and Bobbie Zdanis, came to see her and meet Bosco, too.

“She took it that one step further,” Bobbie said. “One person can make a difference.”

Cavanagh’s latest school project, a research report on how to make K-9 units’ bulletproof vests lighter, was inspired by Bosco.

“This is pretty in character with Katie. When she hears about something like this she wants to get involved,” Carole said.

Recently, a classmate of Cavanagh’s lost their home to a fire, and she took it upon herself to call her friend’s mom. She made a list of items needed by the family, made copies of the list that she distributed around her school, collected the items and delivered them to the family herself.

“I really like it,” Cavanagh said of her fundraising efforts. “You know it’s going to help. A couple hours of my time is going to make a world of difference for them.”

By Lee Moore

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