Page 55 - FOP March 2017 Newsletter

n BY DAN CAMPANA
Three Chicago police officers sprinted up and down the aisles of a Jewel supermarket, not to chase down a shoplifting suspect, but instead to load up shopping carts in the name of charity.
On Valentine’s Day, Officers Peter White, Mat-
thew Ruppert and Tone Tranjillo represented Team
CPD in the Ronald McDonald House Charities
of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana’s annual
“Food Checkout Day” against a team of Chicago
firefighters. Looking a lot like the old Supermar-
ket Sweep television gameshow, the competition
involved first responders racing around the store
for six minutes to fill carts with a preset list of es-
sentials, such as laundry soap, snacks and cases of
water. The pursuit-like event featured moments
that included the officers trying to defy gravity with
a too-tall stack of paper towels and heaving arm-
loads of cookies into a cart as somewhat baffled citizen shoppers stood nearby.
As the final seconds ticked down, shouts of “Go, go, go” started to fade, but White still managed to chuck a few more boxes of cereal into the last cart. The police squad ultimately fell short to the firefighters—who were described play- fully as professional shoppers by police supporters on social media—although their admirable effort helped contribute to a total of $9,500 raised and 10,000 pounds of food and supplies collected for Ronald McDonald House. d
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2017 55