Minuteman Press Loves Park Owner Raises Money for Police K-9s

Rockford IL

10 March, 2020

4:09 PM

Description

Traci Eppes has helped raise over 100K for K-9s through community outreach, marketing and printing. She is the recipient of Crime Stopper Volunteer of the Year and Arthur W. Anderson Community Awards. When the Mayor of Loves Park, Illinois, Greg Jury, approached Traci for help as their current K-9 was ending his career “with longevity,” she was not worried. She knew people were not only harboring more goodness than may be expected, but if the Department built the right environment to raise money for this special dog, the community would come through. And they did; with results challenging the greatest Hollywood screenplay. “I’ve known the Mayor of Loves Park, Greg Jury, for more than 15 years. Mayor Jury connected me with our Deputy Chief of Police, Mike McCammond, who explained the Department was needing to purchase a new K-9, plus funds for all related expenses. He told me, ‘I know we need funds, but I am not sure how to get them.’ I assured him Minuteman Press knew exactly how to get those funds and we created the theme of our first K-9 Fund, ‘Rico, Thank You for Your Service.’ Rico was the K-9 who retired in March of 2019.” Traci put all her years as a marketing services expert into the fundraiser and exceeded all expectations. She explains, “Our K-9 Fund #1 goal was $25,000. During the campaign, we raised $55,400.” Minuteman Press in Loves Park donated a great deal including mailers, apparel and “TLC”. This drew great crowds to events at local businesses who were more than happy to assist in bringing the new K-9, named ‘Blitz’, to work and live in their community. The excess generosity created a wonderful new problem. What should the police department and city council decide to do with an extra $30,000? The answer is charming and also, has a little extra “bite”. They asked Traci to utilize her Minuteman Press center to launch a second K-9 Fund and she agreed with enthusiasm. This push for yet another police pup carries the theme, “Brothers in Blue…Blitz needs a brother too.” Well, as it turns out, Loves Park agrees because the second fund is already barking up the right tree. With an initial $45,000 goal, that goal has been met and surpassed. “K-9 Fund #2, to have for the first time in Loves Park history a second K-9 goal (so our city has daily coverage) is $45,000. To date, we have received a total of $66,630…plus the left over from fund 1 of $30,400, for a grand total of $97,030.” The process is strategic and Traci came through with the know-how and printed items that made it all possible. “We started small with mailers to all local businesses and added more, planned over the four months we were told was necessary to purchase the dog, interview the handler and gather supplies. For the first fund, the Department already had a specially outfitted squad car. When we went 30k over, it was decided to do the second fund for an additional K-9. It was necessary to raise money not only for the new dog and his training, but for an additional squad car and all equipment needed for his proper implementation.” Both Traci and her husband Jon are respected not just for leading the modern printing industry but also for their quiet dedication to finding and doing the right thing. Perhaps her humility got the best of her when Mayor Greg Jury told her she was being nominated for the “Crime Stopper Volunteer of the Year” award. “A month after our first campaign ended, Greg told me about the nomination and I told him we didn’t want that kind of recognition because we got to work with the officers and everything we did was rewarding enough, but he insisted. We were honored with the award by Crime Stoppers and the Loves Park Police Department.” Since they more than doubled their first goal, and within the first 2 events exceeded the goal of the second fundraiser, Traci cannot stop smiling. “The additional squad car alone required a 70K goal (minus our 30K surplus) so we needed to raise 45K this time to purchase everything. On December 2nd, we sent out a mailer to business owners in Loves Park. Area restaurants started contacting us to help and we booked 6 fundraising events in our local bar/restaurants. With that, Jon and I donated 380 customized t-shirts which came out looking very unique. We also produced koozies, keychains and fun items for kids (like play badges) that the Department purchased from Minuteman Press to have on hand for the community events.” But it was when Traci decided to ask companies to be sponsors on the t-shirts printed by her Minuteman Press franchise that they ended up with ten willing to do it, generating $5,500 right from the start. She says, “We wrote to the presidents of the companies and asked them to partner with us and got immediate responses. The money keeps coming in and we are delighted.”