Blue Dog Printing & Design receives Partner Award

At a recent luncheon meeting of our club, we awarded our third Community Partner Award to Blue Dog Printing and Design. Steve Brown, a special friend of the awardees, explained what the Community Partner Award is, then said, “I've been a Rotarian for 38 years, and a member of this club for almost 9, and I can say, without qualification, Bill and Debi Friedmann, owners of Blue Dog, have given more to this club, in time, talent, and treasures, than anyone I've ever known in all those years!!  And I'm not exaggerating.”
Steve then went on to mention many of the ways the Friedmanns have provided assistance to our club. “They provided support to the Chili Cook-Off, provided club brochures, tri-folds, designed posters and the special banners for our Christmas Parade Float, which won our club first place in the non-profit category,” he explained, lifting up the red and gold trophy.
 
“I think the years they gave to the Chili Cook-off were the crowning glory of these two humble and devoted people!  They always had time to offer help or advice!”  Brown added.
 
President Kyle presented the Partner Award saying, “Blue Dog has been supportive for a number of years, and we honor Bill and Debi Friedmann and staff, for their outstanding dedication to community service, unwavering commitment to excellence, and longstanding partnership. Their embodiment of Service Above Self has made a lasting impact, strengthening lives and fostering positive change.”
 

Then, Debi gave an informative and lively presentation explaining how Blue Dog came about. One had to be present to fully enjoy Debi’s comments. She explained how she and Bill met in college, married and adopted a dog who had been abused by its previous owners, and who had dyed her blue from nose to tail.

In 2003 when they started their printing company, they turned to blue dog for inspiration to name the business. “I hate giving Bill the credit, because I’m the creative one, but he was the one to name our company Blue Dog,” she admitted.

Their contact with Rotary really began in 2004, when Jeannie McGinn came in the day before the Chili Cook-off, to get some things printed. Two years later, Blue Dog participated in the chili cook-off, and in 2012, Bill joined Rotary, and in 6 months he was in charge of getting teams to cook chili!

“Being in Rotary is being part of a family,” she said. “When Bill first joined, he told me ‘this is my church. This is where I go to feel good. When I leave, I feel good.’ “There’s so much camaraderie and fellowship in Rotary,” she added.

 “When the holidays rolled around, Bill rang bells for the Salvation Army, and brought our daughter with him.” ‘This is the start of my holiday season…this is when Christmas begins for me,’ said Bill. ‘When Alex is older, we can have this tradition and one day she can bring her kids.’

“We don’t do what we do for recognition,” said Debi. “We do what we do because we firmly believe in the Rotary motto, Service Above Self. We run our business as a family, not just because we ARE a family, but we want our employees to feel a part of creating and building Blue Dog with us. And, Rotary is our family. I’m happy to say that we have done business with over 50% of the current club membership,” she added.

“We are humbled by this recognition, and thank you for honoring us,” Debi said in closing.