Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Receives $100,000 donation

The generosity of a late couple from Danbury will go a long way toward improving public safety throughout Connecticut by funding the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association. A total of $600,000 was donated from the estate of Kenneth and Ann Gleszer and awarded at a ceremony conducted at the Danbury Police Department on November 16. CPWDA President, Officer Daniel Lane of the Waterford Police Department and CPWDA Treasurer James Cortina attended to received $100,000 for helping its K-9 program. Lane and Cortina thanked the Gleszer family for their generosity. Grants were made to 10 police departments and the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association, which trains K9s and was founded in 1991.They will be able to take and hold the donation to use as needed. It’s wonderful for the police departments. Danbury police Sgt. James Antonelli, who coordinated the ceremony, has worked with police dogs for 16 years and a member of the CPWDA for 12 years. Antonelli thanked the family of Douglas Griffin, retired Detective Sgt. Randy Salazar and attorney O’Malley Smith, who all worked on the donation process. Douglas Griffin, a Monroe resident who previously lived in Bethel, is the stepson of Kenneth and Ann Gleszer and was instrumental in administering the donations. Longtime Danbury residents Ann and Kenneth Gleszer were both World War II veterans, according to their obituaries. Ann, who died in 2011, flew planes as a Women’s Army Service Pilot and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009, honoring her WASP service. Kenneth, who died February 3,2016 at the age of 94 and was a radio communication officer on Liberty ships and later worked in the metals industry, where he held several patents.

The recipients included:

· Danbury Police Department,

· Connecticut Police Work Dog Association,

· Connecticut State Police,

· Brookfield Police Department,

· New Milford Police Department,

· Ridgefield Police Department,

· Newtown Police Department,

· Bethel Police Department,

· Monroe Police Department,

· Stratford Police Department and

· Easton Police Department.