Posted on
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Whitehouse ‘Canine Crew’ Rewarded With Pizza Party
By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer
WHITEHOUSE — Six little girls, all members of the Canine Crew, who spent three weeks raising money to buy a protective vest for the Whitehouse Police Department’s K-9, Saphir were rewarded Saturday with a pizza party.
Staff Writer
WHITEHOUSE — Six little girls, all members of the Canine Crew, who spent three weeks raising money to buy a protective vest for the Whitehouse Police Department’s K-9, Saphir were rewarded Saturday with a pizza party.
The idea started when 10-year-old Ashleigh Stanley saw an Animal Planet program about a Colorado girl who raised money for her local law enforcement K-9 unit after one of their dogs was killed in the line of duty. The department did not have enough money to buy protective vests.
“I love animals and was sad and wondered if anything like that could happen to the police dogs here,” Stanley said.
After recruiting her 6-year-old sister, Lauren, the two girls went next door where they found four other helpers: Ashley Richardson and her three sisters, Shelby, Ashley and Brooklyn Gage. Together they formed the Canine Crew.
Equipped with big smiles, determination, and moms that were willing to taxi them, the girls hit the streets knocking on doors in their neighborhoods explaining the plight of Saphir.
“We told them we needed donations to help save Saphir so he could fight armed criminals,” Ashleigh Stanley said.
To make their group official, the girls decorated pink and white t-shirts with paw prints and their mantra “Save Saphir” on the front.
Initially the dog’s handler Officer Jordan Hill, was skeptical when the group of girls ranging from ages 6 to 10 came into his office and offered to buy a protective vest for his dog. He also wondered if they realized how much a stab and bulletproof vest cost.
“I knew it was a big chore and showed them a magazine,” he said.
Many of the vest prices in the magazine were more than $1,000.
“They were real up beat, dead set on doing it,” he said.
Shelby Gage, 10, said that initially, the girls thought the vest was going to cost $400, because that was the amount her friend remembered from watching the show.
“Then we were told it was $1,000, and we were like ‘whoa,’” Gage said.
Understanding that raising the money was a large undertaking — the girls divided up tasks.
With her mom’s help, Ashley and the girls made red donation boxes decorated with black dog bones which were placed in Whitehouse veterinary offices, grocery stores.
“One man gave $20. I guess he really liked animals,” Stanley said.
Friend, 10-year-old Ashley Richardson said her job was holding a donation bucket while the girls walked door-to-door.
The youngest Canine Crew member, Ashleigh’s sister, 6-year-old Lauren Stanly held the magazine with examples of the police vests.
“I want it to be safe for the police officer to take care of the bad guys,” she explained. “He (Officer Hill) needs to get the bad guys because we don’t want those people out there.”
Hill said that the vest will give him peace of mind when he and Saphir are out on assignment.
“You never know when you are on a track and the person you’re tracking has a weapon,” Hill said.
On Saturday the girls brought Saphir a box of large Milk Bones biscuit, which Officer Hill said will be greatly appreciated.
“It’s just as meaningful as if someone did something like this for my family,” he said. “He (Saphir) is like family.
Staff Writer Adam Russell contributed to this report.
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