HERE TO HELP—Becky Matson, Amy Boese and Therese Foley hope someone will help them find a few families that have had a hard year. The Volunteer Police Services members want to feed a few families a Thanksgiving dinner and find one family to help out with Christmas gifts.
“We hope to find families that are not already receiving services through another organization.
We would like to find a few that have fallen through the cracks,” said Rockford Volunteer Police member Linda Crone.
She is asking that people who might know of a Rockford-area family that is having financial difficulties to tell the group. They would like to have names, and a little bit of background. “We don’t want people to just call in with a name, we’d like to know a little explanation of why you think they are in need,” Crone said. The group, who are funding the project out of their own pockets, also want the public to know that donations toward the dinner would be appreciated.
The Rockford Volunteer Police Unit works out of the Rockford Police Department at City Hall and also staff the Welcome Center by Great Northern Trading Company in downtown Rockford Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The 20-person force has had a busy summer helping visitors to Rockford and patrolling the White Pine Trail and other areas. They say they have had a busy summer with an unusual amount of animal interaction, such as swans in roads and turtles on the trail.
They came up with the idea of helping a few families in the Rockford School District as another way to be of use in the community. They hope to feed Thanksgiving dinner to a minimum of two families, possibly more with donations. For Christmas, they would like to narrow their efforts to one family and be able to provide gifts as well. “For that family we would need even more information, such as the ages and genders of children,” Crone said.
Information may be dropped off at the Police Department or the Welcome Center during their open hours. For more information, you may call the Rockford Police Department at (616) 866-9557. A wish list of donated items includes canned corn and green beans, boxes of stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, potatoes, dinner rolls, butter tubs, packaged salad, pumpkin pies, jello and gift cards for turkey.
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