(EVANSVILLE) – An Evansville woman has made it her mission to help raise money to equip area police dogs with ballistic vests. In October 2019, Jessi Hewig decided she wanted to raise enough money to purchase ballistic vests for seven area police dogs.
She works at St. Joe Veterinary Hospital and has the pleasure of taking care of several of the area police dogs. She has raised the funds to purchase these vests through a GoFundMe page, social media, selling tee-shirts, and by placing several donation boxes throughout the Evansville area.
In April, Hewig presented her third ballistic vest to Indiana State Police K-9 Arka. Due to Covid19, a formal presentation was delayed until today when Indiana State Police K-9 Boomer received his ballistic vest.
Today’s presentation is the sixth ballistic vest Hewig has been able to provide since she started her campaign. A ballistic vest for a K-9 is approximately $650.
Indiana State Police K-9 handlers Senior Trooper Michael Finney and Trooper Taylor Fox are both grateful that their K-9 partners are now protected with a ballistic vest. “Our K-9 partners are often put in very dangerous situations and it’s more comforting knowing they are better protected, thanks to Hewig and numerous donations from our community” said Senior Trooper Michael Finney.
Even though Hewig has met her goal of supplying seven police dogs with ballistic vests, she already has funds to supply two more vests in the very near future.
