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on “Circus in the Park.” Part of Roben’s circus magic is craft- ing balloon animals and ornaments. No kid left 019 without clutching or wearing one of his creations. He even gifted San- ta an FOP sign made of blue and white balloons.
“This is my tour of duty today; making balloons and mak- ing kids happy,” Roben cheers. “The same thing I love about performing, which is working with people and making people smile, I thought I could do as a police officer.”
Underneath the community policing unit’s passion and dedication is the foundation of its outreach: a steering com- mittee made up of business leaders. For the Christmas event, the steering committee sends out letters to the community requesting donations and procures the funding. The officers then go shopping for the presents, which are sorted by girls’ and boys’ gifts and by the school or organization where the kids get their invitations.
The 19th District team also conducts extensive investiga- tions to identify the kids most in need. This includes talking to school officials and the shelters. Kids who are invited inevi- tably bring a brother or sister along, so Rios makes sure to get an extra sack of gifts so no child leaves empty-handed.
“That is true community service,” Alderman Cappleman confirms.
Gift organization and set-up is a testament to peak police operational efficiency. The gift-wrapping was fielded with Russell-to-Baez-to-Rizzo eloquence; all 302 presents com- pleted in 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Make no mistake, this was a labor of love for Cubs Char-
19th District Police O cer Jose Rios played Santa’s Helper and also led the CAPS team in organizing the Christmas party.
ities. One of the 19th District residents is Jennifer Dedes- Nowak, who manages the Cubs Charities programs and, as a mother of two young children’s, has a particular passion for this event.
“It’s amazing because a lot of people don’t realize how many kids go in need in our community,” she confides. “We’re kind of seen as more upscale of a community, but so many kids identified in the schools as in need are in shelters. It’s awesome because you are able to see them come in and see their faces and their siblings get really excited and give them something special.”
Seeing the faces of the members in the 019 community policing unit working the party is something special as well. Officers Kellee Simz and Monique Giannoni radiated a bit of a glow watching the line waiting to see Santa. Certainly, there is a sense of duty doing Santa duty, but the reward was a bit more simple on this day.
“Just giving back to the community and seeing the kids having a safe place to go to get their cake and see Santa,” Simz related.
And as Giannoni quietly emphasized: “Letting the kids have a good experience with us. They’re happy. They’re sweet. They’re good.”
Santa made sure to give a shout out to the 19th District offi- cers and the steering committee for raising the support from the community and helping him to, as he put it, “Make sure all these underprivileged children got something for Christmas.” And words from Alderman Cappleman prompted the feeling that this day might be better than the actual Christmas.
“The thing I like most about it is that these kids have an op- portunity to interact with police officers,” he asserted. “Some of the kids have seen the officers in a different circumstance, but today they see another side. The kids get more out of it. This changes it all.”
34 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2017
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