BRADENTON — A few days before Christmas last year, Bradenton police Lt. Warren Merriman walked into a local toy store with a 2-year-old girl and her mother and purchased an Elmo doll for the toddler.
It was all a part of Kingdom Life Christian Church’s “Honoring the Badge” program, which aims at helping children in need and at the same time, bonding them with area police officers.
Merriman was one of 50 Bradenton Police Department officers who took 100 children through a Toys ‘R’ Us and let them pick out a toy.
“Her mother said if it wasn’t for the program, she would not have been able to buy a Christmas present for her child,” Merriman said Tuesday. “We’re able to interact with kids with all ages, it’s kinda heart touching. You get that warm feeling you really helped someone. It’s something they’re gonna remember — a positive aspect of police.”
Thanks to help from Kingdom Life Christian Church, the program continues this year. Except this time, they’ll help children buy needed school supplies for the upcoming school year.
The church is rasing money to buy school supplies for 150 needy children in Bradenton’s Washington Park neighborhood. The children will be chosen by community leaders in that area to ensure they are financially in need, said Don Sturiano, the church’s pastor.
“Not only is this to bless needy families, it’s to plant seeds in children’s minds that police officers are good,” Sturiano said.
The church plans to contact principals at local schools to get the proper supply list of what the children need.
So far the church has raised $200, Sturiano said.
The goal is to raise about $5,000 to spend $25 on each child and have money left over to provide activities and refreshments for the children during the day.
Sturiano said a tentative shopping date at Wal-Mart has been set for Aug. 8.
“Participating in events like this, it’s a good rapport-building opportunity,” said BPD Deputy Chief Jeffrey Lewis. “We want these children to know police officers are there to help them and be their friends, and that we are someone they can look up to and come to for guidance in the future.”
During Christmas, Lewis was another of the officers who participated in the program.
“I believe spending that hour or so with the family and the children enabled us to build a relationship,” he said. “I know those children will always remember that experience, and when they see an officer in uniform it should trigger that memory.”
Anyone wishing to donate money or gift cards for school supplies can call the church at (941) 776-0026 or mail checks or gift cards to Kingdom Life Christian Church, P.O. Box 717, Ellenton, Fl., 34222.
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