10/13/2025
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Blue Dog Printing & Design receives Rotary Club of West Chester’s Community Partner Award
At a recent luncheon meeting of the Rotary Club of West Chester the club awarded a Community Partner Award to Blue Dog Printing and Design. Rotarian Steve Brown explained that the Community Partner Award is given quarterly in recognition of businesses, non-profit organizations, or individuals in the greater West Chester area that have provided longtime support of the activities/events of the Rotary Club’s Service Above Self mission. The Daily Local News and West Chester Golf & Country Club have previously received this award because each has provided outstanding support of the club. Brown then went on to introduce the newest Rotary Partner.
“I’ve been a Rotarian for 38 years, and a member of this club for almost 9,” said Brown, “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.”
“For example, they designed and provided the Chili Cook-Off Website that informed and allowed people to register & pay, all the Chili Cook-Off brochures that we sent to teams, sponsors and vendors, and 2,500 foam peppers that we dropped for the Chili Pepper Drop, as well as all of our club brochures and tri-folds. They designed posters to publicize our 50/50 Raffle, the large wrap-around poster for our information booth, the annual Super Bowl number picking poster, the gala auction and silent auction posters, and the special banners for our winning 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! I chaired the sales booths for a number of years, and they always had time to offer help or advice, all of which was perfect!” Brown added.
Rotary President Kyle Rheiner then called the Friedmanns to the podium saying, “With this sampling of a few of the many ways that Blue Dog has been supportive over a number of years, the Rotary Club of West Chester proudly honors Blue Dog, Bill ad Debi Friedmann and staff, for their outstanding dedication to community service, unwavering commitment to excellence, and longstanding partnership. Blue Dog’s embodiment of Service Above Self has made a lasting impact, strengthening lives and fostering positive change.”
Then, Debi Friedmann gave an informative presentation explaining how Blue Dog came about.
Bill and Debi met in college. When they married, Bill said he wanted a dog. So they adopted Yuengling, a dog who had been abused by its previous owners, and who had dyed her blue from nose to tail.
“In 2003, Bill suggested we start our own printing company to service clients from my graphic design business, and we 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.
“Our contact with Rotary really began in 2004, when a woman I had met at several Chamber of Commerce meetings asked if she could come in on Saturday, the day before Rotary’s Chili Cook-off, to get some things printed. Two years later, Blue Dog participated in the chili cook-off. We enjoyed the day, but had no idea what Rotary was, or even that they put the cook-off together. In 2012, Bill joined the Rotary Club, and within 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.
In 2013 they acquired the client base of a fellow Rotarian who was retiring from her business and wanted the same level of service given by Blue Dog. In 2017, Blue Dog was hired to manage all the marketing for the Chili Cook-Off.
“When the holidays rolled around, Bill rang bells for the Salvation Army, and brought our daughter with him,” said Debi. Bill said, “This is the start of my holiday season…this is when Christmas begins for me. 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.
https://www.dailylocal.com/2025/10/13/blue-dog-printing-and-design-receives-rotary-club-of-west-chesters-community-partner-award/?clearUserState=true
