By Riley McCoy
For The Register-Herald
Beckley — Pizza paid the price for the newest piece of equipment carried by a Beckley Police Department K-9 companion.
Customer donations collected through Little Caesars’ annual Pizza Pizza Paws Campaign returned to the department Friday as local K-9 teams received emergency medical-supply bags designed to help handlers stabilize injured police dogs.
The seventh annual campaign supplied 275 bags to K-9 handlers across West Virginia and portions of Kentucky and Ohio. Each kit contains supplies including blood-clotting powder, gauze, stretch wrap and Narcan.
Cpl. Lauryn Capehart, one of the officers who helps lead Beckley’s K-9 unit, described the equipment as necessary during emergencies when officers must quickly retrieve supplies from their patrol vehicles.
“This is a bag that, it’s kind of like a go bag,” Capehart said. “We can grab it out of the back of our car.”
For Capehart, the need is not theoretical.
She previously used a similar kit after her K-9 tore a dew claw during training, allowing her to stop the bleeding and protect the injury from infection.
“My canine got hurt in some training, and I had to use one,” Capehart said.
Beckley Police currently operates three K-9 teams: Zero, a 4-year-old German shepherd, Luna, a 2-and-a-half-year-old German shorthaired pointer; and Grom, a roughly 3-year-old Belgian Malinois.
Capehart said the dogs work alongside officers every day.
“They’re vital to our everyday patrol needs,” she said. “They’re trained to protect us, and really, they’re just an asset to the community.”
The donated equipment can also ease expenses sometimes absorbed by handlers themselves. Capehart said K-9 officers may personally purchase some training and medical supplies.
“Without these, you know, a lot of this would come out of our pocket,” she said.
Sabrina Donahue-Moore, organizer of the Pizza Pizza Paws Campaign and marketing director, said organizers survey handlers each year to determine what equipment they need and how many teams could benefit.
“We actually survey all the handlers and ask, what can we do to help make your jobs easier, training-wise or supply-wise?” Donahue-Moore said.
The campaign began in southern West Virginia in 2019 after organizers learned that some K-9 programs, particularly in rural departments, depended heavily on donations and expenses paid by individual handlers.
“We started this campaign in 2019, and it was right here in Southern West Virginia,” Donahue-Moore said. “This is where it all started.”
The program now includes every Little Caesars location in West Virginia and has expanded into Kentucky and Ohio.
Donahue-Moore said the campaign still relies on relatively small customer contributions.
“When you’re picking up pizza and you donate $1, it does matter because it’s coming right back into our area,” she said.
Organizers also hand-deliver the bags to participating departments.
“We want to be able to shake the officer’s hand and say thank you for everything you do,” Donahue-Moore said. “You do have support out there.”
Read more from The Register-Herald, here.
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