Story behind this amazing photo...
At the end of September, we decided to do a random giveaway to get to "1000 Likes" on Facebook. We would give a bag of Boneyard coffee to a follower, and a Boneyard t-shirt to another follower.
On Oct 2nd we hit "1000 Likes". All excited, I randomly selected two interesting names from our followers, posted the winners, and sent them private messages telling them they had won. But I received a response that I wasn't expecting...
"I just got deployed a few days ago. I'm trying to find my final destination address. If I can't I will just give you my house address so my fiancé can send it to me eventually."
I just kinda sat there staring at the screen, thinking how crappy is it to win something that you are not even going to be able to enjoy for who knows however long. At that moment, I decided that I was getting this soldier his coffee, and not only was he getting coffee, but I was going to send some other items too.
I looked at products that we had on hand - coffee, shirts, stickers and mugs - and decided I would send a couple bags of coffee, "Freedom Runs on Four Legs™" stickers, and a Boneyard t-shirt to match his coffee. But we didn't have anything else on hand, that made sense to send to someone deployed. What would he do with a snow white coffee mug in an active military operation area???
I remembered that we had looked at powder coated, stainless steel, water bottles at one point. At the time, we decided that we would wait until the time was right to design and launch an item like that. Well that "wait until the right time" was that day.
I quickly explained the situation to Brad and he modified the "Freedom Runs on Four Legs™" design for laser etching on a bottles and tumblers. We sent the artwork, approved the proof, and quickly placed an order.
While waiting for a bottle to get to us, the Military Working Dog Team Support Association (MWDTSA) offered to help us get this care package to the deployed MWD Handler. We packaged up coffees, a shirt, stickers, the new "Freedom Runs on Four Legs™" stainless steel water bottle, treats and some Paw Balm for his MWD, and sent it off to MWDTSA. They reached out and coordinated with him to get him his package.
This photo, and our product line, came to life overnight because Antonio Padilla, K-9 Handler with the United States Air Force, was deployed to a far off, undisclosed location. He received his care package this week, and kindly sent us this photo of Tuxx, US Air Force MWD, proudly showing off his new t-shirt and water bottle.
Thank you Antonio and Tuxx for your service!
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