Ohio Boy, 10, Raises More Than $315,000 To Provide Bulletproof Vests For Police Dogs

A 10-year-old boy has raised more than $315,000 to help provide bulletproof vests for police dogs.

Brady Snakovsky from Strongsville, Ohio, came up with the idea to raise money almost two years ago when he realised police dogs don’t automatically get issued bulletproof vests – even though their handlers do.

The young boy had been watching an episode of Live PD with his mum, Leah Tornabene, when he noticed a police K-9 on the show was not as protected as his handler. As soon as he realised this was true of all police dogs, Brady knew he had to do something.

So he set up a GoFundMe page, the donations from which allowed him to buy the first four vests in February 2018. These were given to dogs within the Ohio State Troopers a few months later.

From there, Brady started showing up at community events to raise awareness and funds for his cause; he even wrote to his local congressmen and told anybody he met about his mission to protect police dogs.

Soon, the young boy had set up Brady’s K9 Fund, a nonprofit organisation that raises money to supply bulletproof vests to police and military dogs. So far, Brady has supplied 257 dogs with vests and has raised more than $315,000.

‘We were watching the show together and I didn’t even notice that the dog wasn’t wearing a vest,’ Brady’s mum told CNN. ‘I was quite surprised that a child at age eight could recognise that there was an issue there, and that he could find a solution to fix that problem. It made me very proud to see him doing this.’

Leah said most people don’t realise that police forces have to rely on the help of donations for their K9 units, so every dollar matters – making Brady’s hundreds of thousands of dollars even more impressive.

‘As his mum, I’m very proud of him for putting others first,’ Leah previously told WKYC. ‘He thinks they should be protected and he saw a need for that.’

When he grows up, Brady wants to be police officer like his stepfather, saying he ‘want[s] to help out other people and keep people safe’.

Years before he’s able to become one though, he’s already keeping hundreds of dogs safe and says he hopes to help as many police dogs as he can in the near future. ‘I like seeing the smile on the handler’s face,’ he said.

Those wanting to donate can do so either through Brady’s GoFundMe page, which has so far raised more than $100,000, or via his website.

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