JACKSONVILLE — In just one week, the thought of a Jacksonville Police Department-led coat drive led to a decorated donation box in the department’s main lobby and a plan to help area children.
The inaugural Coats From Cops coat drive, which is accepting donations of coats for students at local schools until Dec. 16, is a partnership among the Jacksonville Police Department’s School Resource unit, the Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 16 and the Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni Association.
So far, about 100 coats have been donated, and the department began distributing them to students Friday.
“We know that sometimes, during the winter season, a lot of the kids don’t have coats, and we wanted to do something to make a difference,” said Lt. Robert Washington of the Jacksonville Police Department. “So we got together with the School Resource Unit and Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni Association, and this is what we came up with.”
Jennifer Corben, a school resource officer assigned to Jacksonville High School, said she notices that many donations are for elementary-age kids, and that can lead to high-school kids, who need adult-size coats, being forgotten. She said she has seen some kids arrive at the high school wrapped in blankets.
“Those are going to be the kids I quietly pull aside and say, ‘Hey, would you like a coat?’” she said.
Corben said the donation box is in need of more hoodies, which many teenagers like to wear. As a school resource officer, Corben said, she mentors children, which helps her pick up on their needs.
“I’ve never had a kid come up to me and tell me they need a coat, but when you see a kid walking around with a fleece blanket, they obviously need a coat,” she said.
On Dec. 17, the department will allow community members in to pick up coats that have been left over.
“If for some reason we don’t give away all of the coats in the school, we’re going to open it up to the community members where they can come up and get a coat,” Corben said.
The Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni Association is helping the Coats From Cops coat drive because it is important to support the Police Department, president Denny Dutcher said.
The association has also supported the department by raising money to purchase a police dog, buy computers for school resource officers so they can make reports at their schools instead of at the department, and provide a Christmas dinner for officers.
“It’s whatever request they give; we do our best to help them,” Dutcher said. “It shows the citizens of Jacksonville are behind them.”
Washington said members of the Police Department aim to do as much as they can in their free time to serve those in need.
“We not only work here. We live here, and we’re regular people, and we know that because of finances or whatever, sometimes people don’t have the things that they need,” he said. “As police officers and servants of the city, we like to do our part to provide that.”
Through Coats From Cops, Corben said, she hopes students at local schools see that their local law enforcement cares.
“[I hope they see] that we’re not just there to enforce laws, that we’re here for the whole community,” she said. “We’re regular people just like everybody else. We just have a different job.”
The department is accepting coats, hats, gloves, scarves and hoodies 24/7. Those who wish to donate but cannot make it to the Police Department can call (501) 982-3191 to have their items picked up.
“If someone comes up after hours, they can call our dispatch and have an officer meet them up front and drop off the coats,” Washington said.
Corben said that when the community has a need that the department can assist with, such as helping students receive winter coats, the department gets involved.
“We’d love to just be overflowing with coats that we have so many we don’t know what to do with,” Corben said.
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.