American Legion Post 217 in Wyandotte, Mich., donates $2,000 in gift cards to be distributed by police officers who encounter struggling community members.
After unsuccessful attempts to find either local veterans’ families or community members in general who were in need of assistance, American Legion Post 217 in Wyandotte, Mich., tried a different approach to assisting those in the area.
That approach resulted in $2,000 in gift cards being donated by the post to the Wyandotte Police Department. Its officers will distribute the cards to community members they come across who are in need of some kind of assistance.
“We were having a hard time in the past few years finding veteran families, or even families in general, that we could ‘adopt’ for the holiday season,” said 35-year-old Aaron Lawn, who is in his second term as post commander. “Last year we tried to get some for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we couldn’t find anybody.
“One of our (post) officers had done something similar in another group … and we thought that it would be great to work with the Wyandotte Police and be able to actually affect change in our community.”
Lawn said the police department was “ecstatic” when the post presented the gift cards. “We were able to propose what we wanted to do, and they were very accepting of it. They come across a lot of people that need help. And sometimes, it’s hard for people to want to mention that they need help.
“So when the police officers can come across them, whether they need some money to turn on services in their home, they need money for food or clothing … they need some funds to be able to (help). Rather than them paying out of pocket, this allows them some reprieve from that as well.”
Wyandotte Police Chief Archie Hamilton told WXYZ-Detroit his department was looking forwarding to share the post’s generosity with those who need it. “This gesture and fundraiser is going to help so many people. So many unsuspecting people right now who truly need help,” he said. “These gift cards will allow our police officers to go out there and truly help people, and they're going to love this.”
Lawn said Post 217 has money set aside to continue with the donations to the police department. “We’ve got some additional money in reserve to do this again,” he said. “That’s what The American Legion is for. We are a veteran service organization. We’re going to help veterans, but we’re also going to help our community. Without the community, we don’t have the support to do our mission everywhere else.
“They support us during other times of the year. We have helped them with food pantries or with other organizations in the community. So it’s nice to be able to give back.”
- Community