K-9s are a girl’s best friend

UPDATE 5/22/10: I received this email from Grace’s mother. Apparently the article written in the Glendale News was incorrect. I pointed her in the direction of the article’s author, Veronia Rocha.

“I don’t know who you are. But you were writing about my daughter Grace
Bunduka. PLEASE get your facts straight. PA PD’s did respond to Grace’s patch
request. In fact, the Whitehall Police Dept K9 division was the FIRST to take
Grace on a training session. Glendale’s PD did the most for Grace but that was
how the relationship developed, NOT because of any PD in PA! It was the school
that let her down and did not allow the local [Whitehall] K9 unit deliver the
vest during Grace’s school presentation. It was the school NOT any PA PD’s. I
can only hope that you respond respectfully to this correction.

Rosanne Bunduka, EMT-PHTLS

—————-

It took a 12-year-old Pennsylvania girl who suffers from a neurological disorder several tries and a police department on the other side of the country to finally make her wish of connecting with a K-9 unit come true.

After getting nowhere with local police stations in her home state, Glendale police officers arranged an educational trip for Grace Bunduka and her mother, Rosanne Bunduka, to visit the area’s police dogs.

On Wednesday, Grace finally got to meet several police dogs and hold their leashes at a training facility in Ventura.

“It was awesome,” Grace said.

Her struggle with her illness and desire to meet a highly trained pooch struck a chord with Glendale Police K-9 handler Shawn Sholtis, who discovered her wish through an e-mail.

Glendale Police K-9 Officer Shawn Sholtis, left, chats with 12-year-old Grace Bunduka, center, and her mother Rosanne Bunduka, right, during the 15th Annual glendale Police Awards Luncheon at the Glendale HIlton on Thursday. Officer Sholtis sent the younger Bunduka, who suffers from severe neurological problems, the initial K-9 patch and has helped her get additional ones for her 6th-grade project vest. The Bundukas were flown in for the luncheon by the Glendale Police Department. (Raul Roa/News-Press)

After reading a book about K-9 handlers, the sixth-grader expressed a desire be one herself. Her mother then hatched a plan to e-mail police agencies throughout the region requesting that they send in K-9 patches to place on a vest. The vest was going to be worn during a presentation with a K-9 officer at an advanced placement reading class. Sholtis received the e-mail November last year and sent her a care package, which included a patch, a letter, photographs and K-9 cards.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Advertisement