K-9 Show Kicks Off Charity Drive

More than 400 kids whooped and hollered this morning as they got to watch the Douglas County Sheriff's and Douglasville Police K-9 Units give a K-9 demonstration in the Stewart Middle School gym.

All the whoopin and hollerin was to kick off this year's Pennies for Police Dogs competition, which will start on Feb. 27 and run through March 9. This is the third year that area schools will compete to see who can raise the most money to help fight canine cancer. More than $10,500 was raised in the first two years and this will be the first year that includes area middle schools.

"We wanted to expand it to include the middle schools this year," Lt. Michael Barnhill said, local organizer for the event. "There's a lot more interest, since this is the third year.

"Last year we had more than 900 pounds of change," he said. "GreyStone Power Credit Union let us count the change using a machine over there similar to a Coinstar. It took us over 10 hours to count it."

Buckets will also be available at the Douglas County Courthouse and at the H. Blake Gammill Memorial Building for those who don't have children in school but still want to donate. Home Depot provided 12 additional buckets this year so every school and location would be covered.

The top three elementary and the top middle schools will receive visits from local K-9 units as well as K-9 demonstrations and touch-a-truck opportunities.

Here's the elementary schools participating: 

Annette Winn

Beulah

Brightstar

Burnett

Chapel Hill

Dorsett Shoals

Eastside

Factory Shoals

Lithia Springs

Mason Creek

Mirror Lake

Mt. Carmel

New Manchester

South Douglas

Sweetwater

Winston

Holly Springs

Here's the middle schools participating:  

Chestnut Log

Fairplay

Mason Creek

Stewart

Turner

Yeager

Factory Shoals

Also participating are: Brighten Academy, Arlington Christian School in Fairburn and Milford Elementary school in Cobb County.

For more information about the penny drive, please contact Lt. Michael J. Barnhill at 678-486-1220 or mbarnhill@sheriff.douglas.ga.us. For more information about Chase Away K-9 Cancer, visit www.chaseawayk9cancer.org.