By KEVIN YOUNG
GLASGOW — The Glasgow Police and Fire departments are teaming up to help needy children this cold weather season. They are collecting new and gently used, clean coats to distribute to local children during the holidays.
Lt. Col. Kent Keen said the program is a great way for the police officers and firefighters to give back to the community.
“It’s important for us to get the department involved in the community and provide for kids who are in need,” he said. “It’s a great joint effort between the city departments, police and fire departments, to encourage folks to donate a coat or if they want to go buy one and give it to children who may be in need this year.”
Keen said the program began on Sunday when the departments placed the coat collection box in front of “Granny,” the fire department’s 1925 model fire truck, in the city’s emergency services building on Broadway.
“After just two days we already have several coats in there. One lady came in with three or four that her kids had outgrown,” he said.
The program runs every day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Nov. 20 and Keen said he is hopeful that the community will come out to support those in need.
“Nobody wants to see kids who are cold and don’t have a good way to stay warm,” he said.
It is just one of the many ways the police department is lending time for community service, he said. Among the department’s other ventures include the citizens police academy, several school programs and creating child fingerprint cards for parents to keep in case their child is lost.
Keen said members of the two departments will begin distributing the coats during the week of Thanksgiving so that the children will be at home from school, but the list of recipients has not yet been made.
“We’re going to get some input from several different areas. It may be that some of the police or firemen know families, or it may be some of our local educators who know some families. Maybe we’ll even look at some of our local city departments, the water company or recreation department who know folks that are in need right now. We’re just going to try and use combined resources and see who they all suggest,” he said.
