We purchased extra backpacks and filled them with school supplies for our Cops and Barbers event to make sure that we had enough for any extra kids who came to our events. Fortunately, we had enough to cover everyone on site and were able to give the additional bags to some of the Columbus Division of Police Community Liaison Officers for distribution in their precincts.
Ofc Tony Rogers (7 Pct) and Columbus Recreation and Parks Department employee Mario Dovell worked together to develop a plan to hand out their bags. Mario is the manager of Adams rec center and will be our guest speaker at this week's Starfish Assignment meeting on Thursday at 6:30 at Panera Bread, 877 Bethel Rd. This duo had a wonderful idea--they stood outside a Columbus public school on the first day of class and handed out bags to every child who didn't have a backpack.
Ofc Robin Medley (11 Pct) took his share of the bags to two schools in his area. He reported that at one of the schools, the office had students waiting to help him unload the bags. He was impressed with how helpful and respectful those students were and was happy to have had the opportunity to get to talk to them.
Ofc James Poole (20 Pct) used his bags to adopt an entire grade. He was able to reach about 45 students in total. In his own words, "They were sooo happy. It made their day. I had the opportunity to talk to them about personal safety, watching their surroundings, stranger danger, and bullying as they get ready to start school."
Thank you to our Cops and Barbers sponsor AEP Ohio for making this possible!
