{"id":32553,"date":"2026-01-22T14:38:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=32553"},"modified":"2026-01-22T14:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:38:50","slug":"k9-koda-fundraiser-work-of-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/k9-koda-fundraiser-work-of-students\/","title":{"rendered":"K9 Koda fundraiser work of students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An idea born in a Bellmont High School business class has caught fire, directly benefiting Koda, the Decatur Police Department’s K9 officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now available for purchase is a high-quality, plush version of K9 Koda, complete with DPD vest and collar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s called a Kozy Koda fundraiser and proceeds will support Koda\u2019s fund, which helps provide for his food, equipment, and ongoing training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koda has become highly popular with students at Bellmont, where he spends his days with School Resource Officer (RSO) Andrew Elwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Koda’s mission, the police department says, is \u201csafety and detection work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cplushies\u201d are available at the police station on Seventh St. (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and at the high school. They price tag is $20, but \u201cthose who wish to donate more than $20 are welcome and greatly appreciated,\u201d the PD says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elwell gave details of the fundraiser to city council Tuesday night, noting that Koda \u201cis an absolute valuable asset to our school and to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said 100 of the plush dogs have been ordered and the student fundraiser \u201chas been positively received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo see these students step up is wonderful,\u201d Elwell added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ALL FOR IT: \u201cI pitched it to them and they were all for it,\u201d said Bryan Lineberry, instructor for the Principles of Business Management Class at Bellmont High.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of 18 students, mostly sophomores but a few seniors, make up the class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said we could do it as a business, market it, give it a name, sell it, etc. and they wanted to do it,\u201d Lineberry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told them we could sit around and talk about it or we could just do it; they were ready to go,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe pitched it to officer Elwell and he was all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fundraiser idea quickly went up the PD chain of command and got a green light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lineberry, who has been at BHS for 14 years, said his class is partnering with students in a marketing class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His business students, Lineberry said, \u201care a great of kids; they really are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GOING FAST: Anyone wishing to purchase a Kozy Koda should get it done soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve just started selling them and they are about half gone already,\u201d Lineberry said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may be that another 100 will be purchased, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on the project the following website was built by the students: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/kozykodak9\/home<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cK9 Koda and Officer Elwell sincerely thank our incredible community for its continued support,\u201d the police department said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com An idea born in a Bellmont High School business class has caught fire, directly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13,17,15],"class_list":["post-32553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-bellmont","tag-community","tag-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Koda-Elwell.png?fit=1091%2C668&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32556,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32553\/revisions\/32556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}