DOINews: NPS-Law Enforcement Training Center: Rangers Join in Kids and Cops Program

National Park Service rangers' taking part in the 2014 Kids for Cops program gather for a photo in front of the Target in Brunswick, Ga. The rangers volunteered to shop with area kids in need during the holiday season.

On Dec. 20, 11 rangers attending the Land Management Police Training Program 15-501, along with Thomas Lewis, basic law enforcement program manager, Jason Morris, a ranger from Cumberland Island National Seashore, volunteered their time and service to the 2014 Kids and Cops program established by the Ed Dixon Memorial and the Glynn County (Georgia) Fraternal Order of Police.

This annual event took place with cooperating efforts from the Brunswick Target and more than 120 local children who were in need during the holiday season. The FOP Kids and Cops program is designed to build relationships between members of the southeast Georgia law enforcement community and federal law enforcement officers stationed or training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

Officers' taking underprivileged kids shopping for Christmas presents or school supplies shows those children that the police in their area and on a national level are friends and are always there to help. Giving a child a present, when they wouldn't have received one, or the supplies they need to excel in school, can make a lasting impression.

The National Park Service rangers at FLETC and Cumberland Island National Seashore were proud to represent the agency during this volunteer event and fostered relationships with these young boys and girls that will last a lifetime.

A special thank you is expressed to those rangers of LMPT 15-501 who volunteered their time during this program:

• Ronald Babus, Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River
• Chastity Caines, Virgin Islands National Park
• Justin Doyle, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
• Claire Formanski, Fire Island National Seashore
• Alex Heyer, Cape Hatteras National Seashore
• Drewry Hughes, Homestead National Monument of America
• Peter Malionek, Cape Hatteras National Seashore
• Stephen Neel, Lake Mead National Recreation Area
• Chris Scheid, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park
• Elizabeth Blakely, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
• Mark Clarke, Boston National Historical Park

Submitted by: Thomas Lewis, NPS
Jan. 6, 2014

Related Link:
NPS-The Morning Report