A church in Charlotte, North Carolina, invited grieving police officers and first responders in the wake of four local law enforcement officers slain in the line of duty to their hallowed grounds, serving each a home-cooked meal as a token of recognition for all they continue to do on undeniably mean streets, sowing seeds of solidarity with bona fide peacekeepers in the community.
On April 29, 2024, the world witnessed the evil inflicted upon four law enforcement officers from various police agencies involved in one incident, all of whom succumbed to mortal wounds sustained in a gunfight with a malicious malcontent harboring contempt for law and order.
“Yet somehow today they all got up to do it again.” That was a statement that circulated on social media, in response to the latest attacks against our police officers, attesting to the professional convictions of America’s law enforcement officers going head-to-head with monsters in our midst.
Fast forward one month: That credo remains galvanized as the personal constitution of cops across the country.
Members of the community conjured a way to help the grieving process, knowing the uniqueness of policing: Time away to process horror is not an easy token to obtain.
Thus, a church congregation catered a buffet for on-duty badge holders, provisioning a home-cooked meal, listening ears, and gestures of gratitude for fulfilling the oath despite life-threatening circumstances.
‘A Meal to Heal’
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) press release recognized community support and the gracious offerings by a local church caring about its cops.
CMPD administrators extended gratitude for Tyson Foods and the congregants at Kingdom Citizens Outreach Ministries “for bringing in an awesome lunch for our officers at the Hickory Grove Division office yesterday! With the amount provided, they were able to provide 400+ meals to serve six divisions and the fire stations in East Charlotte. Boxed meals were provided to officers to bring back to their respective divisions and to others unable to attend. We appreciate the hospitality and generosity of all who came out to feed the department. The food was delicious and the company was fantastic!”
(Photo courtesy of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.)
As stated in the CMPD statement of kudos, boxed meals were loaded into a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police cruiser for transport to first responders whose duty relegates them to fixed positions and to those who ensure their assigned beat is dutifully attended.
(Photo courtesy of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.)
The nature of a police communications officer (dispatcher) is such that they are tethered to a 9-1-1 call-taking station at Police HQ or allied Emergency Operations Center handling calls and dispatching an assortment of first responders and assets for a consortium of police/fire/EMS agencies in the region.
Hence, boxed meals are brought to them via police cruiser, since physical attendance at an event such as A Meal to Heal is not conducive.
Solidarity
The material you are reading and the impetus to write about it was among the tsunami of continued vile attitude lobbed at America’s law enforcement officers and the unfavorable verdict levied against the former president by a New York jury pool.
Concentrating on the roughly 850,000 or so cops in our currently belabored nation, it is reassuring to see folks who not only feed them but also embrace cops for what they do in a society that has been teetering for several years now.
To see citizens and cops sharing chats, smiling together, shaking hands, patting backs, and being brothers and sisters of the same species…is enough to alleviate the emotional weight of everything else going topsy-turvy.
(Photo courtesy of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.)
Men and women of the cloth and their respective congregants have been symbolic of support for cops, extolling and illustrating scripture underscoring police officers as peacekeepers chosen by our Maker.
Matthew 5: 9-10 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Indeed, the virtue of any cop anywhere USA is demonstrated in their stepping forward, a physical response to the question Whom shall I send?
Send me! is the iconic statement officiated when each first responder starts and graduates the rigorous academy training followed by jutting hands and solemnly swearing to uphold our country’s principles and constitutional covenants.
(Photo courtesy of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.)
The Thin Blue Line is blessed to have members of the community serving a banquet in honor of all its first responders, with cops lining up to break bread and commune during grievous losses…before returning to street duties.
Because “somehow today they all got up to do it again.”