Kristi Schiller’s “Dream Came True” when K9s4COPs gained worldwide exposure through the 125th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
Flu medications, or maybe an adrenalin fueled lack of sleep, make you have the weirdest dreams. In color. With surround sound. And the smell … simply divine!
I had the most vivid dream that K9s4COPs was in the Tournament of Roses Parade!
But it wasn’t a just a dream…it was dream that came true. K9s4COPs was honored as one of the only 42 floats in the 125th Tournament of Roses Parade, which was appropriately themed…you guessed it…Dreams Come True!
Most. Amazing. Day. EVER!!!!!
The experience was surreal and I didn’t want it to end! My beloved friend Jenna Jackson’s P&R Productions crew captured every moment from the building of the float to our stroll down Colorado Avenue in Pasadena, California.
We participated in the Rose Parade to draw attention to the great work that our K9 officers and their handlers do serving our communities and to share our mission to provide agencies and schools with highly trained K9s. We wanted to share our story, our mission, with the world. I’m pleased to say the response was overwhelming!
Our message was heard from coast to coast, from the front page of our hometown Houston Chronicle to international media outlets. It was a headline ticker on Yahoo News and featured across the pond on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in England!
On ABC, Hanna Storm and Josh Elliot knocked it out of the park with their coverage of our float. (Plus, they said ours was their favorite animal float of the parade.) They shared our story, from that horrible December when Officer Ted Dahlin lost his partner K9 Blek to the ever growing number of K9s which have been placed with various law enforcement agencies, school districts and college campuses.
Through such incredible world-wide visibility, K9s4COPs gained almost 4,000 new social media followers immediately after the Rose Parade and added many new members to our Woof Pack, so all in all, it was a great success! You too can join the Woof Pack at www. K9s4COPs.org/donate.
Our float may not have won any awards this year, but we’ll just see about that in 2015! Once bestowed, a coveted spot in the Rose Parade is a lifetime honor— should we choose to accept.
I’m not about to let this much visibility for K9s4COPs go to waste and we’re already planning next year’s float. We are beyond thankful for the generous donations that made this year’s float possible and we’re already looking for that special sponsor that’s willing to join us in front of more than a billion viewers on New Year’s Day 2015.
This is my dream coming true…every day. With the generous support of countless businesses and individuals and the tireless work of our dedicated team, K9s4COPs has come a long way in just three years, but our mission is far from over.
I tell people I’m too stupid to know what’s impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.
By the way, if anyone finds a glass slipper along Colorado Boulevard, please return it to Texas!!!
Rose Parade Article
