It’s not often that Sapulpa Times waits days or even weeks to get a story out about an event in Sapulpa, especially one as big as one that sees the combined efforts of the community, the local police and a new upstart local brewery bring in a record amount of money to the police’s K9 department.
Truth be told, we just wanted to get the photo of that awesome giant check.
Phil Kennedy spearheaded a movement to help the Friends of the Sapulpa K9 Unit replenish their dwindling funds. It began with a text message.
“(Officer Cady Byrnes) texted me, ‘Could I please get on the podcast with you (and Freedom Electrical’s Jonathan Dupee), we need to raise some money for the canine department,'” Kennedy said. “I had no idea what she meant, at that point. We met right up here, and she got on a podcast. She told me she wanted to do it to raise money. Behind the scenes, I was already clicking. My brain was working on ‘we just got to raise some money big time and get this for her,'”
Between the time of that first text message and the podcast episode, Kennedy went to work; he called Jim Dilley, who had just opened James Calley Brewing Co. (117 E Hobson Ave) with friend and business partner Randy Calley.
“I said, ‘Jim, I’m looking for a venue. If you can’t do it, I’ll call the next guy, but I wanted to ask you first,” Kennedy said.
When Dilley found out what the fundraiser was for, he “snatched it up,” Kennedy said. “He said, ‘We’d love to do it.'” It was also Dilley’s idea to include a gift card back to the brewery as part of the donation. For a $125 donation, the donor would receive a $25 gift card, and $100 would go to the K9 unit.
By the time Officer Byrnes made it to the brewery to do the podcast episode and plead her case with their listeners, Kennedy and Dilley had already put the event in place. She was told about it after the episode ended. “I told her, ‘We’re gonna have a big party to raise money for you guys right here in this place,'” he said. “She was like, ‘Oh my gosh.'”
In the span of an hour, a plan had been put into place, and the event only had a week’s notice. Could they get the word out fast enough to make the impact they were hoping for?
Kennedy said he had only a moment of trepidation that it wouldn’t work out. “The morning of the event, I woke up and thought, ‘Hey big boy, you’re kind of behind this. What if it doesn’t work?’ And I just said, ‘No, God’s faithful, it’ll be alright. I know how to entertain, and I love people.’ I said all ‘I want to do is get it out there in front of people. It’ll be all right.'”
It was more than alright; Dilley told Phil and Jonathan he believed they could raise $10,000—an amount that seemed impossible, given the timeline, even for a cause as noble as this. But he told them really thought the incentive of a gift card would help drive donations.
As it happened, donations in all amounts came rolling in, including more than the $125 needed to get the gift card. “We had a lot of folks who donated more—we had three people who donated $1,000,” Kennedy said.
From just 3 pm to 9 pm that day, the community turned out, or if they couldn’t be there personally, they sent money with someone else. Sapulpa Police Chief Mike Reed made sure that officers were at the event the entire time. Cady Byrnes and K9 Officer Pepper were on hand for the whole event. After all the donations had been collected and tallied, the grand total came to $11,000, beating the hopeful estimate of Jim Dilley.
Days later, a giant check was presented to the Sapulpa Police Department for the full amount, and finally, the Sapulpa Times was able to write that story.
Phil Kennedy is sort of known around town for these types of endeavors. From Free Coffee Friday (every Friday morning at 114 E Dewey) to regular events at Waypoint Lounge (111 S. Main), he’s regularly getting himself involved in some charity, social, or civic event. But he’s shy about taking any of the credit, saying that he’s just trying to be a blessing to others.
“God is just blessing everybody through these events,” he said. “It’s just bringing people together that may never get together, otherwise. He just used my skill to show everybody how much of a loving community we really have. I’m just happy to be part of it.”
