Page 23 - FINAL WEST FOP BlueNote January February 2018
P. 23

Rocky Mount Lodge 46 FOP, Cops and Kids

                                       By Greg Brown – State Sergeant at Arms

     It is always a wonderful feeling when you see a child's face  their parent or parents are trying their very best to make ends
on Christmas morning as they see the first present that has        meet but have had some sort of setback in life.
been placed around the Christmas tree for them to open. For
many children they never have that feeling because they never          Tim Braddy, senior patrol officer for the Rocky Mount po-
have any presents to unwrap. Most of these children are in a       lice, serves as the president of Lodge 46 and the Blue Knights.
situation, which is out of their control and cannot be helped.     Braddy stated, "The shopping day is one of several good things
                                                                   that law enforcement do in the community. The experience
   This is where the N.C. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 46       also allowed children to see officers in a different light other
along with assistance from the Blue Knights NC XXI, a law-         than cases where police are called to a home in an emergency.
enforcement based motorcycle club, has stepped in throughout       The purpose of this is to bring the community closer to the
the years to assist parents who find themselves unable to pro-     police department and law enforcement. We want our children
vide for their children this holiday season. Nearly 70 parents     to see that everything we do isn’t bad. We also want them to
and children came out to participate in its annual Cops and        know that no matter where we are in uniform they can walk up
Kids event on December 9 at the Walmart in Rocky Mount.            and talk to us anytime because there is no reason to be scared
Members of Lodge 46 were able to help them have a Christmas        of us."
they may otherwise not have had. We also had a tremendous
turn out of Officers to help each child shop this year. We were        Edgecombe County Sheriff Clee Atkinson stated, "It is im-
able to provide each child with $250.00 to shop for necessities,   portant for people to understand how much compassion law
such as clothes, coats, shoes, bedroom linens, and toys that the   enforcement has for people in the community." Lodge 46 Pres-
family may not have been able to provide. We as a lodge and        ident Braddy acknowledged that FOP, Cops and Kids was a
our local law enforcement believe that this event breaks down      positive event for the officers as well. He stated, "This is also
the barrier between law enforcement and the community. It          a great experience for the officers because if they didn’t care,
shows them the more personal side to a law enforcement of-         they wouldn’t be here. Like myself, they’re not getting paid
ficer and that we are human as well. It is very humbling to see    doing this, but they’re here because they want to help out our
the smiles on the children faces when they are paired up with      community. That’s why you do this job because it’s not about
the officers and they go out shopping. It warms the heart.         money or glory. This is showing we’re out here making a dif-
                                                                   ference."
   Lodge Treasurer Tim Mehus has been participating for
more than a decade in the annual holiday shopping trip for area        Kelly Carraway, a mother, expressed her gratitude towards
families in need. He stated, "When you take a child around the     the program as her children Tyler and Taylor Carraway said
store and ask what they want and they say clothing or toilet-      they enjoyed their time shopping with their selected officers.
ries, it does the heart good. It was such a delight to see the     She stated, "I think it’s an awesome experience not just for the
outpouring of support from the officers. Each child was paired     children, but for the parents as well. It’s great to see people
with two or three law enforcement officers who walked with         giving to people in need. It’s an emotional time of year, espe-
them around the store to do some Christmas shopping. First         cially for me of not having the money to buy gifts for my chil-
and foremost on the list was clothes, shoes, coats, bath essen-    dren. I’m so happy that my kids will be able to get some toys
tials and then a few toys. Most children went straight to the      or something they wanted."
coat rack because most of these children either did not have
one or the one they did have was just worn out. Not only is this      Walmart of Rocky Mount is always ready and willing to
a special event for these children but it is also special for the  support our program and we would like to thank them for al-
officers and their families who attend every year. Some say        lowing us to use their store and facilities. We would also like
that this is the highlight of their year and that they will con-   to thank the following Agencies that came out and helped our
tinue to come as long as they are able".                           children shop this year. The Rocky Mount Police Department,
                                                                   Pinetops Police Department, Nash and Edgecombe County
    The children were chosen from the Rocky Mount, Nash,           Sheriff's Offices, North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Immi-
Edgecombe and Wilson County area. The children that were           gration and Custom Enforcement, NC Blue Knights Chapter
selected for our program were truly deserving and are ones that    XXI of Rocky Mount and all of the families of our lodge mem-
                                                                   bers that came out to help us shop.

www.ncfop.org                                                                  23
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