Girl Helps Protect Police Canines

In Garden Grove, CA Alyssa Mayorga, started picking pennies up off the sidewalk three years ago.

“She got this devilish look on her face,” recalls her mom, Denine Mayorga, 41, in an article, “and said ‘But if you save them, you can buy all sorts of things!'”

Now she’s called the Penny Princess, according to the article, using her pennies to buy bulletproof dog vests for police canines.

She’s so petite she’s almost a penny of a person, the story stated.

“She’s a little girl making a huge amount of difference,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Todd Schmaltz, president of the Orange County Police Canine Association in a recent interview.

On Oct. 15th Alyssa handed out her 20th bulletproof vest with pennies saved.

“They need ’em so when likeâÂ?¦there’s a guy hiding somewhere and he tries to shoot up the cops and it hits the dog, the dog won’t get hurt,” she told reporter Tom Berg.

And why does she care so much about police dogs, Berg asked her.

“I care about them because they help their community and um, they, ah, well, umâÂ?¦.”

“She is, after all, only ten,” said Berg. “Trained police dogs often cost more than $10,000 each.”

Alyssa joined an estimated 10,000 people in October at the West Coast’s largest annual police-dog show, held at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Soccer Stadium and open to the public, wrote Berg.

In 2004 the show raised $30,000 for the county’s police canine association, Schmaltz said.

“Dog vests have been around at least 20 years but few departments ever used them,” writes Berg. “Another reason for the increase in vests, however, is the rise of penny girls, poodle clubs, Elks lodges, and others who want to help.”

In March 2000 ten-year-old Stacey Hillman of Casselberry, FL started “Pennies To Protect Police Dogs, Inc.,” a non-profit group that has since raised more than $200,000 and bought hundreds of dog vests, according to Berg.

Public good will also increase after tragedy according to research.

Even so, most police dogs rarely wear vests, statistics state.

It was the story of a police dog killed in action that made Alyssa want to help, she says.

Once she took on the dog-vest cause Alyssa turned to her Uncle Rudy, a police officer, for help.

“Word got out,” said Denine.

Alyssa collects much more than pennies now in the cans scattered around town in animal hospitals, nail and hair salons, and elsewhere, according to her family.