Empowering our communities, accelerating the future.
A Future Worth Fighting 4
FEBRUARY
L t R Will Peck, Jonathan Holmes, Tatiana Dyer, Yolanda Henry, Todd Srebrenick, Jim Peck. On truck: Darrion Henry, Duane A. Henry
JANUARY
LtR: . Jason Wheeler, Sheriff Ken Mascara, Tatiana and Will Dyer, Jonathan Holmes, Sgt. Lamm, and Juliana Walker.
The Blue Star Mothers Organization
Dyer Difference Award Honors Compassion and Service
“Providing for our protectors” is the mission of K9 Strong, a Port St. Lucie nonprofit organization which helps to supply safety and training equipment to law enforcement K9 teams, locally and nationally. K9 Strong was founded in 2019 after the tragic line-of-duty death of Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office K9 Cigo, shot and killed during a Christmas Eve 2018 criminal apprehension at Wellington Green Mall. K9 Strong, Inc. has assisted nearly 175 K9 teams nationwide, and approximately 25 K9 teams in South Florida and the Treasure Coast. The organization provides a variety of aid items, including everything from ballistic vests and first aid kits to specialized odor detection training equipment and infrared beacons, building a relationship with K9 handlers and helping to tailor donations to suit the K9 and handlers’ specific needs.
For example, in 2022, K9 Strong, Inc. received an emergency call regarding K9 Bandit of the Belmont (NC) Police Department, who had suddenly fallen ill with a heat-related injury. As veterinary costs mounted, K9 strong garnered $13,000 in community support to cover Bandit’s veterinary costs. Bandit has since made a full recovery, is back working the road, and has made several high profile criminal apprehensions and narcotics busts. Inspired by this experience, K9 strong established “The Bandit Fund,” earmarked specifically for emergency use. Bandit Fund”. This will open up an additional avenue of preparedness for K9 Strong, Inc. to “Provide for Protectors” in their most dire hours of need.
Saint Lucie County Award Recipients 2023
MARCH
APRIL
FORT PIERCE POLICE ATLETIC LEAGUE
Dyer Difference Award Helps Support Blue Star Families
In St. Lucie County, mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, foster moms, and female legal guardians of children serving in the military gather regularly to help support one another and the community through the Blue Star Mothers organization. Working closely with Fisher House and the Wounded Veterans’ Relieve Fund, this group of dedicated women actively works to ensure that our currently serving troops, veterans, and the families of our fallen heroes never feel forgotten or forsaken. The Blue Star Mothers’ Birdies for the Brave golf tournament helps raise funds for other veterans’ organizations, and the March Dyer Difference Award in St. Lucie County recognizes this mission and helps to support these efforts.
Dyer Difference Award Assists Youth Programs!
In St. Lucie County, the Dyer Difference Award recognizes and supports the mission and efforts of A Future Worth Fighting 4, nonprofit organization with a goal of serving impoverished youth in the inner city and its surrounding area through physical fitness and healthy competition as an alternative to street violence. Open to youth ages eight to 18, A Future Worth Fighting 4 provides guidance and support for youth to excel not only in school, but in life through competition, fitness, activities, and mentoring programs during the school year and summer months. Helping youth develop leadership skills and the tools to achieve success in the future is important to all of us, and the Dyer Difference Award in St. Lucie County this month celebrates the dedication and efforts of this organization to the youth of the community.
K9 STRONG
Left to Right: Finance Manager Jim Carr, Blue Star Mothers’ Carrie Beck, General Manager Jonathan Holmes, Sales Associate Reese Horstman, Sales Manager Shannon Kinnett.
MAY
JUNE
The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office supporting the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranches
Dyer Difference Award Helps Youth!
For more than 50 years, The Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranches Program has been helping to prevent delinquency and to promote developing lawful, resilient, and productive citizens through a variety of hands-on, hearts-in programs which help at-risk, displaced, and neglected youth become resilient, directed, and who can face the future with ability and hope. The programs give children opportunities and experiences they might never have had and open new avenues for building a bright future. Since 1988, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office has been participating and supporting the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranches through an annual golf tournament at PGA Golf Club. This year’s tournament, slated for May 13th, will also help benefit Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranches and the Dyer Difference Award honors both the law enforcement officers who give so generously of their time and talent and the youth who benefit from this very special kind of mentorship.
Members of the Dyer staff family in Fort Pierce are pictured with Eagle Scout candidate Jayce Masters and Post Commander John Hayes being presented with the June Dyer Difference Award
Left to Right Sgt. D. Soesbe, General Manager Jonathan Holmes, President Lisa Johns-Grose, Tatiana Dyer, John Dyer, Sgt. M Woods
PALs Honored with Dyer Difference Award
Building relationships and mentoring is what it’s all about at St. Lucie Sheriff’s PAL program, too. Every year, more than 300 youth are able to enjoy year-round activities including boxing, wrestling, and karate as well as leadership programs and mentoring to help connect youth in the community with law enforcement officers in a positive, respectful atmosphere. To encourage kids to put down video games and engage with one another and with deputies, the St. Lucie Sheriff’s PAL program is installing a basketball court at its new PAL Center in Fort Pierce. The January Dyer Difference Award in St. Lucie County will help make that happen and will help promote fun, respect, and positive role-modeling for youth in our community while building strong, positive, lasting relationships between law enforcement officers and the youth in the communities they serve.
Dyer Difference Award Assists K-9 Memorial !
The old maxim is that dogs are man’s best friend, and while that may well be true, a K-9 officer is more than a best friend for a first responder. He (or she) is a partner willing and ready to sacrifice everything for the safety of its handler and partner. It seems only fitting, then, that K-9 officers receive recognition and respect from the community they serve, and that is the goal of Boy Scout Jayce Masters. The Port St. Lucie teen chose to honor all St. Lucie Sheriff’s K-9 officers who have served since the unit’s inception in 1981. As an Eagle Scout candidate, Masters is spearheading the fundraising, purchase, and installation of a statue and monument to recognize and celebrate what he calls the “living, breathing, partners and family members,” who serve the community through this special law enforcement unit. The St. Lucie County Dyer Difference Award in June will help Masters achieve his goal.
Left to Right: CEO Joe Rathnam, COO Jenna Radtke, Dyer Sales Manager Shannon Kinnett, and Sales Manager Dallas Steiger.