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Pittsburgh Steelers’ Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger Announces Buffalo Area K-9 Grant

Today, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Super Bowl Champion Quarterback and Findlay, OH native Ben Roethlisberger announced the seventh grant of the 2010 season from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund. The foundation will be distributing a grant to the City of Buffalo Police Department, in Buffalo, NY where the Steelers will play the Bills Sunday, Nov. 28.

The Buffalo Police Department will use the grant to purchase a canine trained in explosives detection. The canine will replace recently retired, Garo, an explosive detection dog who served eight years with the Department. The new canine will also be trained to track missing persons and fugitives, locate evidence, apprehend criminals, and protect their handler.

The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation is distributing grants to police and fire departments in Pittsburgh and in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away game for the Steelers in the 2010 season. The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation invited police and fire departments in the nine cities to submit proposals detailing their needs.

Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown said, “I am pleased to receive this grant from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, which provides funding for a new police dog in the Buffalo Police Department. These funds will enable our police department to purchase the dog, train it and put it to work on our continuing anti-crime efforts across the City of Buffalo.”

The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation seeks to support K-9 units of police and fire departments throughout the United States with a particular emphasis on support for service dogs in Pittsburgh, PA.

For more information about The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation or The Giving Back Fund, please contact Stephanie Sandler or visit www.bigben7.com or www.givingback.org.

About Ben Roethlisberger

Ben Roethlisberger is in his seventh season as quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and already has secured his place in the record books. At 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, he is aptly referred to as Big Ben, and has become known for big performances and a humble approach. Roethlisberger is one of only 10 starting quarterbacks to win two or more Super Bowls. In 2009, he led the Steelers to a 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa with a thrilling touchdown pass in the final minutes. In 2006, Roethlisberger became the youngest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl, defeating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 in Detroit. Roethlisberger was voted to the Pro Bowl in 2008, and already holds most of the passing records for the Steelers. He is the only quarterback to lead his team to the conference championship game in each of his first two seasons. He was the unanimous Rookie of the Year in 2004, breaking Dan Marino’s rookie records for completion percentage and passer rating, and was the first quarterback in NFL history to compile a 13-0 regular season record as a rookie.

Roethlisberger was raised in Findlay, OH and was a three sport star at Findlay High School. He went on to set nearly every quarterback record at Miami University (Ohio) prior to foregoing his senior season and becoming the 11th overall pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2004 NFL Draft. Roethlisberger resides near Pittsburgh with his two dogs, Zeus and Hercules.

About The Giving Back Fund

The Giving Back Fund (GBF) is a national public charity that creates and professionally manages charitable foundations and other philanthropic programs for athletes, entertainers, business entrepreneurs, and corporations. Since our founding in 1997, GBF has created an important niche in expanding and diversifying philanthropy, particularly among young people, women and people of color. Our unique structure allows donors to direct more of their charitable dollars to causes they care about and less to administrative overhead. To date, The Giving Back Fund has provided philanthropic consulting, management and programming to more than 100 athletes, entertainers, entrepreneurs, and other high net worth individuals. GBF has overseen the distribution of more than $30,000,000 in charitable grants within the United States and other countries, and has developed dozens of unique scholarship, mentoring, medical, arts, and other philanthropic programs. For additional information, please visit www.givingback.org.

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