Page 38 - January 2016

n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
A special gift to the Lodge
For a brief moment, all was quiet at the Lodge 7 offices on the late afternoon of Dec. 9.
President Angelo was in Washington meeting with the Department of Justice. The mayor had finished his piercing address to the City Council, and the First Vice-President was watching CNN coverage of the mayor’s speech. Following many days of stressful events, the FOP was certainly in need of a ray of sunshine and hope.
And at 5:30 that afternoon, in walked that ray of sunshine.
Two Cub Scouts from Chicago Troop 3210, 7-year-old James Wood- son and his 5-year-old brother Louis, accompanied by their chaper- one, had come calling on the Lodge. A maintenance worker brought them to the third floor where Casiano greeted the boys, who were bearing a gift.
“They had a box of homemade cookies,” Casiano related. “Appar- ently, scouts from their troop were bringing cookies to police officers and firefighters throughout the city.”
The Cub Scouts visited more than 30 police and fire stations and facilities on this day. Casiano brought the boys into President Angelo’s office where James and Louis read aloud a letter they had written to express their appreciation to their heroes for what they do every day protecting their communities.
“At a time where so much is going on that is negative and bashing the police, how nice was it to have our young people stepping up to show their appreciation for what we do day in and day out?” Casiano exclaimed. “These were little people with big hearts for police officers.”
James and Louis received replica police cars from the FOP Gift Shop.
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The Woodson brothers are students at St. James Lutheran School. According to their chaperone, they wanted to show that the youth in the community sees officers as a positive light. Casiano noted that they were a little shy when first arriving but were proud to read the let- ter they wrote. This was certainly the kind of moment that made it hard to fight back the tears.
“It was something I truly appreciated for our members,” Casiano revealed. “To still have people out there that think the world of us, that look at us as heroes, it was special to see something good come out of their innocence.”
At the end of the visit, Casiano invited the boys to pick out souvenirs from the FOP Gift Shop. Both James and Louis each took a replica police car among their gifts.
“When we went to the store, they felt like they were in Santa’s work- shop, the police division,” Casiano mused. “I told them to remember that no good deed goes unnoticed.”
James Woods, right, and brother Louis meet with First Vice-President Ray Casiano to present a Christmas gift to police officers.
38 CHICAGO LODGE 7 n JANUARY 2016