Homeruns For Heroes - Baltimore Orioles Honor Hero Dog Foundation and Nation's First Responders
The Baltimore Orioles will honor Bear, America's most decorated canine and a hero of 9/11 at Wednesday night's game against the New York Yankees in Camden Yard.
Baltimore, MD (PRWEB via PR Web
Direct) June 29, 2005 -- The Baltimore Orioles will honor Bear, America's
most decorated canine and a hero of 9/11 at Wednesday night's game against the
New York Yankees in Camden Yard (7:05 p.m.). Proceeds from a designated section
of seats will go to Bear's legacy – The Bear Search and Rescue Foundation. The
New York law firm Proskauer Rose established the foundation in memory of the
eleven-year-old Golden Retriever shortly after his death in 2002. The foundation
provides funds for equipment, training, and transportation to search and rescue
teams around the country.
Bear, along with his dad, Captain Scott
Shields, led the first search and rescue teams at Ground Zero. While tirelessly
working the pile, the eleven-year-old golden retriever was credited with finding
the most victims, including beloved FDNY Chief Peter Ganci. After the World
Trade Center tragedy, Bear became a goodwill ambassador around the world. He was
honored as a Hero to Humanity by the United Nations, and his photograph
displayed there for the World Peace Celebration in 2003. Three states have
declared Captain Shields and Bear Days, including New York, New Jersey, and
Connecticut. The United States Army, the 108th United States Congress, and the
Queen of England's Scots Guards have also honored Bear. The Scots Guards even
wrote a song in his honor.
On September 11, 2004, the FDNY-EMS Academy
in Fort Totten, New York commemorated the now famous golden by etching his name
into a brick that is part of a permanent monument to the fallen heroes of 9/11.
Bear was wounded at Ground Zero and died one year later of multiple forms of
cancer. He was buried as a fireman and his memorial service attended by
thousands on the USS Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York
Harbor.
Bear is the subject of the book, "Bear: Heart of a Hero" by
Captain Scott Shields and Nancy West. World-renowned primatologist Dr. Jane
Goodall has called the biography of the heroic canine "one of the best
human/animal relationship stories I know of. Bear's story– both in his valiant
efforts at Ground Zero and through the work of The Bear Search and Rescue
Foundation–is one of courage and deserves the attention of everyone." The book
will be sold at Camden Yards during the Wednesday evening game. Authors Captain
Scott Shields and Nancy West will be available for signings.
For more
information about The Bear Search and Rescue Foundation go to www.bearsearchandrescue.org or call 732-713-6298.
For
more information about the book Bear: "Heart of a Hero" (Hero Dog Publications,
180 pp, $15.95) go to http://www.herodogpublications.com or call
914-525-6483.
Media Contact:
Nancy Mintzer
914-525-6483
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb256544.htm