Shana Hyatt, 30, attended one of Faith and Blue’s events at Sacred Heart Church this Sunday. Her husband is a state trooper, and her children always get a kick out of seeing all the equipment and tools law enforcement officials use.
“I think it’s good for the people to come out and see everything that’s going on,” said Hyatt. “[The kids] love it. They’re around this stuff all the time, but they’re always fascinated by it.”
The Faith and Blue organization helps bridge the gap between law enforcement officials with local faith-based organizations in order to build a stronger community. They hosted two Coffee and Doughnuts Meet n’ Greet events on Sunday, Oct. 13: one at Sacred Heart Church and the other at New Hope Church.
Trooper Viverito, one of the officers at Sacred Heart Church’s Faith and Blue event, explained that they chose the Sacred Heart and New Hope churches because they haven’t hosted a Coffee and Doughnuts Meet n’ Greet event before, and they were convenient locations for them. The troopers want to try and visit every church at some point.
Billi Jansen, 42, works in Sacred Heart Church’s office and helped work the event by serving doughnuts and orange juice.
“I was approached by one of the law enforcement officers, who’s also a member of our parish and has children go to our school, and he just asked if we could host a Faith and Blue event,” said Jansen. “They’re the ones that took the initiative to say, ‘Hey, we want to be present. We want to show the community and show your perish what we’re all about.’”
The conservation police brought a boat that they use on lakes, as well as a trailer for visitors to walk through that displays deer antlers, deer cameras, furs and different kinds of gear. One of the officers even brought their motorcycle for the children to sit on.
The officers also brought out Deputy Dale, the Sheriff Office’s therapy dog who joined the force last December. Dale is a two-and-a-half-year old poodle mix from Florida that helps those in mental health crises, those with anxiety after traumatic events and the social and emotional development of grade-school aged children.
“[The event] is good, especially with the kids. They love the gear and hopefully children and anybody kind of look up to law enforcement,” said State Trooper Stephen Marino, who attended this weekend’s event at Sacred Heart. “I know there’s different ways to look at that, but we want to make sure that families, kids, adults know that we’re here for them and to protect them … and kind of take away that scare factor of that, if they see us, they shouldn’t be worried. We’re here to help them.”