Sunday, April 8th
In our very first meet-up for Howard County Dads, we wanted to connect with the community. We set out to deliver donuts to local police officers to thank them for their service. While there, we checked out different police cars & talk to officers.
This is something you can easily do on your own any given Saturday morning. Here are a few tips we picked up from doing this activity:
Call Ahead – Give officers a heads up and ask which station is best at that time.
Dress Up – Piece together a police costume. We grabbed 2 fishing vests, pilot hats, and two walkie-talkies.
Lots of Small Boxes – If you have multiple kids, ask the donut shop to package in smaller boxes so everyone gets to give out the goods. Example: 100 donut holes in four 25-count boxes or a dozen donuts in 2 half dozen boxes.
Maryland State Police – Jessup Station
Near the intersection of US Route 1 & MD Route 175, the State Police were very grateful for our visit. We got to check out an unmarked car. The kids were disappointed when they thought it had no lights and sirens. Once it lit up they were blown away saying, “Oh! You trick people! Can we go trick some bad guys!”
Howard County Police – Southern District
The county police were happy to have us as well. We met and spoke with at 6 or 7 different officers. The sergeant on duty came out and spent a lot of time talking to each of the kids. They gave the kids police badge stickers & parked a police SUV and cruiser just outside the entrance. The officers opened all the doors and let the kids hop in. I was blown away by how engaging the police were when giving demonstrations and answering questions.
Bonus Tour – Fire Station
The county station is attached to a fire station, so we stashed one box of donut holes away to give the firefighters. This was a cool tour as well.
Our trip ended with some excitement as an emergency call came in and we stepped out as the staff rushed off to rescue someone.
Thank you to the State Police, Howard County Police, and Howard County Fire & Rescue for not only making our first event a success but a memorable one for the dads and their children.
