Sheldonâs K9s is a newly founded nonprofit organization with four main components:
First and foremost, to honor Officer Sheldon and to never let his sacrifice be forgotten.
To support, advocate, and equip our K9 unit, making their needs our priority. Provide the best equipment and services to the handlers and K9 officers, so that they can continue to support our community.
Giving the community an opportunity to continue to show the outpouring of support and appreciation and not lose that momentum.
To serve as a model organization for other communities to follow, that allows a partnership between community outreach and local police departments.
On May 4th, 2019 Officer Jordan Sheldon lost his life in the line of duty. As a community we were made all too aware of the sacrifices our officers are willing to make every day that they wear the badge.
I felt so helpless when I found out the tragic news. Jordan Sheldon was the officer I had been put in touch with in November 2017 to ask my K9 questions to. Sheldonâs passion was evident in the conversations we had. He shared with me the issues faced with new K9s and mentioned some things he would love to see happen. This included things like vesting the K9s and he went on to talk about how he wanted to do something to bring the community and the K9s together. A way to bring awareness and education of what exactly it is that our K9 officers do.
This is how the vision for Sheldonâs K9s began. To find a way to honor Officer Jordan Sheldonâs passion for the K9s by honoring his wishes.
With that said I would like to take a moment to thank Darren, the co-owner at Clutch, for all the support him and John have given. They have stood behind this vision and waited patiently for direction as I worked diligently alongside Kristina at the Mooresville police department putting all of the details together and making sure this was something that the town and police department would be on board with. Initially the goal was to try and vest the K9s. I had reached out to the organization Sheldon had told me was involved in vesting our very own Gunny and Cyrus back in 2015. It was going to be $950 per vest so we would need to raise about $3k. I told the lady on the phone that we would likely need to have another fundraiser the following month in order to have enough funds. By then I would be able to work with the town and police department to ensure this was a need we would be able to provide. On May 15th we were blown away by the communityâs support. $8,232 ended up being the final number from the fundraiser that Clutch Coffee Bar had! I reached out to the vesting company to verify all information before contacting the town and was told that the need was already taken care of!
Over the next week the idea of forming a 501(c)3 started to come together. Jesse Jones with Mcintosh Law Firm was one of the phone calls made over the next several weeks. The reason I chose this law firm was that it was brought to my attention that they have always offered free will services to all first responders and I wanted to work with them since they have always shown support in our community. On 5/30 I had a meeting with Jesse Jones and he let me know that day that all legal work for Sheldonâs K9s would be completely free of charge and his contribution to the organization! I was overwhelmed by his willingness to help and thankful for the peace of mind that we would have a lawyer working on the set-up process and for any future legal questions. We submitted everything that day and he let me know the only charges there would be were a $60 application fee and he highly recommended a corporate book to track finances which is an additional $60. Kristy Yeager with Yeager snowmen & crafts made a generous donation of $500 and she let me know that these funds could be used to get our organization started.
Heading home that day after my meeting with the lawyer I had stopped at Shop ân Save in Mooresville. While inside Darren called me back and I was telling him about how the meeting had gone. I looked up and the sweet lady working there was looking at me with a huge smile. She said she was not trying to eavesdrop but that she had chills and would love to hear more about what we were working on. As I told her about Sheldonâs K9s, her coworker told me that she wanted me to come and see her the following week because she wanted to donate. I came back to see her a week later and she gave a $50 donation to Sheldonâs K9s! To say this process has been overwhelming doesnât even begin to explain the emotions seeing so many that want to show their support in our community.
As of 6/6 Sheldon's K9s officially became a nonprofit organization in the state of North Caroloina!
After looking online, in groups, and calling I decided that Aquesta bank in Mooresville was the best option. They have done a lot in our community including fundraising at every branch in honor of officer Sheldon and donating all of the proceeds to project K9 heroes. They are also a sponsor for the new humane society, give to the Christian Mission, given to the wounded warrior project and many other local organizations. I was there for about 1.5 hours on 6/7 and let me just say that they were absolutely amazing. They watched my girls, gave them donuts and even set them up with a craft in the kitchen while I worked with Melody and Pat on all of the details. Very thankful for them going so far above and beyond so all of my questions could be answered and the finances would be set up properly.
Any donations could now be given directly to âSheldonâs K9sâ at any Aquesta Bank branch.
This organizationâs foundation will be built on its honesty and transparency. If at any point someone questions or would like to know more information concerning our expenditures please feel free to contact us! It is my personal commitment that all funding will be updated and the community will be well informed on how much money they have raised and what the money is being used for.
On 5/30 a friend recommended contacting All Occasions Florist as they had raised money and wanted to donate ½ of the proceeds to the K9 unit here in Mooresville. I contacted Cansas that morning and she requested that I keep her posted on the organization as it came together. On 6/10 I called to let her know it had all been set up and was official. She immediately said she would be making a $4,100 donation to Sheldonâs K9s!! Absolutely amazing news and I felt so overwhelmed by the outpouring we have seen before the organization has even been officially announced!
Darren also got me in contact with Pure Barre Lake Norman as they had reached out to him wanting to raise money for the K9s as well. They have two fundraisers scheduled this month, one that took place 6/15 raising $400!!
Two very sweet ladies that I met at Clutch, Danielle and Jibba, reached out to me at the celebration of life for Jordan Sheldon on 5/8. They had been raising money in the community selling the blue line flags and wanted to know who they could donate to. At that time, I told them I would keep in touch. As the pieces of this organization came together I kept them informed on every step and they will be donating the money they raised to Sheldonâs K9s which totals $695.
On 5/30 I received a phone call from Jordan Sheldonâs brother, Carson. We spoke at length about the organization and how it could honor the passion Jordan had for the K9 unit. Since then Hannah Beck, K9 Officer Andrew Beckâs wife, and I have stayed in touch with Carson and the family has been involved and supportive of Sheldonâs K9s. Last night Hannah sent me the mission statement that Carson and the family diligently worked on for Sheldonâs K9s.
âSheldonâs K9s seeks to improve the lives of K9 dogs and their handlers. Our goal is to provide support to the Mooresville Police Department K9 unit through community involvement. We hope to further awareness, care, and advocacy efforts for police and K9s at local, state, and national levels. Our organization is named in honor of K9 Officer Jordan Sheldon, who lost his life in the line of duty. The hope of Sheldonâs K9s is to keep his memory alive by elevating some of Jordanâs passions: law enforcement and the K9s who serve.â
There are no words to describe how it feels knowing how supportive the family is of this organization and knowing that they too believe this is a beautiful way to honor Jordan.
On 6/13 there was a scheduled meeting with the town. Hannah and I had been preparing for this meeting which was the final piece to having Sheldonâs K9s fully supported. This meeting was taking place at town hall and Deputy Chief Childress, Major Chilton, Mayor Miles Atkins, town attorney Sharon Crawford and the town managerâs assistant Rupa would all be present. The meeting lasted about an hour and we walked out with full support from the Mooresville Police Department and the town of Mooresville! Words cannot begin to describe how important this was for the process of setting of Sheldonâs K9s.
From the start it was always the goal to have the support of the family, town and the police department and we now had just that!
As of 6/17 prior to our announcement the total funding is sitting at $13,977!!
Thank you, Mooresville community, for all that you do and the continued support and appreciation.
Officer Jordan Sheldon will never be forgotten đđ¤
