300 kids have wishes come true at Shop With a Cop events

The notebook state Trooper Tavin Davis typically uses during investigations served a different purpose Tuesday.

He used it to jot down the cost of toys for two Youngstown children at the Unity Walmart store to make sure they stayed within budget.

Daniel Wallace, 3, put a Play-Doh kit in the cart while his sister, Jai’lynn Wallace, 7, showed Davis one more thing she wanted if there was enough money left.

“It’ll be a little over, but that’s OK,” he said in a low voice.

Davis and dozens of other troopers and police officers from around the area took to the toy aisles for Shop With A Cop, an annual event that pairs them with youngsters for a shopping spree.

Three hundred children will get to spend $150 each at six Walmart stores in Westmoreland County this week, said Trooper Steve Limani, the organizer. The 40 children who participated at the Unity store had brunch provided by Latrobe Country Club afterwards.

For Davis, the event hit home.

“There were several Christmases where I didn’t get anything for Christmas,” he said. “It means a lot. They remind me of myself growing up. I wish I had this.”

He had to put a toy gun that Daniel wanted back on the shelf because it was for children 14 and up.

“When you’re 14, we’ll get it, OK?” Davis said.

Daniel and Jai’lynn, along with their brother, Devin, 6, were recently adopted by Betty Jo and Jesse Wallace.

Other children shopping Tuesday had been through some tough circumstances over the past year, Limani said.

“We’ve had children that have found their loved ones overdosed that are here today,” he said. “That was their contact with law enforcement, which is pretty sad. The fact that we have a chance to spend some time outside of their horrible circumstance and … have some fun, I think that’s what it’s all about. I know the police officers, to be honest with you, I think they like it more than the kids.”

The shopping spree was a huge help for the Wallace family.

“This means the world to us,” she said. “We have six kids now, so it’s a stretch. We’re trying to provide a good Christmas for them.”

Shop With A Cop holds three fundraisers during the year.

“We’re able to put on the largest shopping program that I’ve ever seen. I’ve tried to research these things, to date in all of the United States when it comes to a police organization taking a group of kids shopping,” Limani said.

The event has grown over the past 11 years. At the first Shop With A Cop, 20 children got to spend $50 each, he said.

“It just blows me away that we went from a little, rinky-dink Shop with a Cop organization to one of the largest, if not the largest, in the entire country,” Limani said. “It’s just little Westmoreland County, outside Pittsburgh, Pa.”