Last night while out, a friend approached me:

“How do I help? I could not find anywhere that it actually said how to help.”

He was right. I never actually put out there HOW to help persay, just instructions on what to do once on board and where we stand with numbers and areas covered. So, today, I change this and I tell you exactly how you can help.

Before I can tell you how to help though, I have to give my reasons for being so private with this information and how we grew to 115+ departments without actually telling anyone who visited our website / Facebook page how to get on board.

HOW WE GREW

Social media, family and friends. One sure thing with families of police officers is that they know many, many other families and close friends of police officers and can always be counted on to be there in an instant to help. To this point, we have simply relied on families and close friends to help us spread the word to other trusted families and friends and with the help of modern day social media, things took off. FAST. Now imagine just how much further we can go now that I am actually telling YOU how to help! (Insert big smiles here!)

WHY SO SILENT ABOUT HOW TO HELP

I want this project to be a success. I want to make sure that it’s done right. This was originally intended (just 9 days ago) to serve just one local department, so when it started growing as quickly as it did, I needed time to process and formulate a game plan. In order to protect those (as best I can) who protect us, I needed to “screen” in some manner but until now, it was fairly easy as most of our leaders were all trusted referrals in one manner or another. We are now at a time that I feel ready to take on more but you must understand that there are delicate issues that come with this type of campaign so I need to make sure we do this right.

Taking in cookies for the holidays seem innocent and sweet enough, right? This is not exactly the case for our police friends. There are bad people out there folks. People who would do bad and I cringe that the thought. So, this has to be done right and has to be handled in a manner that keeps our men and women safe. During this time of processing and tracking and making calls, I’ve also been giving lots of thought and consideration. I am now ready to tell you how to help.

HOW TO HELP

Share the page. Tell your family and friends what we are doing here. We need to rally for our men and women in blue. This is not a political statement. It is a compassion statement. Their work is hard and filled with challenges most of us will never see or fully understand. Let’s support them. Love and compassion are contagious. Let’s lead the way.

Step up. If you are a family member or close friend (verifiable) to a law enforcement officer and want to lead up an area, please, REACH OUT and get on board. The more ground we cover, the more impact this has. Each box of cookies delivered is not brought to those men and women by one person or small group. It is brought to them with the backing of EVERYONE here. It is brought to them with the backing of thousands at this point who appreciate the work they do and support them. How incredible is that? VERY.

WHO CAN DELIVER COOKIES FOR COOKIES FOR A COP?

Only approved leaders can bake or gather baked / purchased cookies for their department / area. While the leader does not have to be the one delivering, it does have to be someone the leader appoints. We ask that leaders call the department to let them know if they are sending someone in their place who is not shown on the leader list.

I’M READY TO LEAD! NOW WHAT?

• What does it mean to be a leader (for more about leader, GO HERE)?
  • To be a leader, you are essentially taking responsibility for an area / department. If it is a small department, you may be able to knock it out on your own or it may mean the help of just a few friends. Larger departments may take a bit more help but I can tell you from what we’ve seen already, other families of LEOs will be ready to help in a heartbeat.
  • Being a leader means you are baking, buying or gathering (from trusted friends and family) cookies and other goodies to be delivered on December 22 (or a date that best works with the departments and your needs).
  • All packages from approved leaders must have the Cookies for a Cop tag showing it is a part of something HUGE. I have removed the link from the site to give more control over who is able to print and use. Leaders, please email me for your tags if you have not received them. ([email protected])
• How do I become a leader? Read this and then fill out this form and know that I will be back in touch with you very soon.
• What help can I get to be ready to go? Once you are approved, you will received a packet of information. This information will help guide you through the process and answer any questions that may linger.

WHO ARE OUR LEADERS AND WHAT THEY HAVE DONE

• I have a large group of about 40 trusted friends and family baking for over 1,400 officers and support staff. We should have an even mix of baked and purchased cookies (purchase is thanks to the donation from Quick-Cash for Gold) and other various treats. We will all meet up to sort, package into boxes (thanks to the donation from Complete Wireless), tie up with ribbon, label, and send off with our delivery elves to be delivered.
  *I just hope it moves along just as easily as it sounds. (wink)
• One leader has an in home daycare and does an annual holiday project. This year, she has chosen this as her project with the kids. Each family is bringing cookies to help.
• One leader is a kindergarten teacher and is having other teacher friends and family bake for delivery.
• Most leaders are the wives or close relatives of police officers.
• Some leaders have approached local grocery stores or bakeries to ask for donations. Kroger stores are great for offering $25 gift cards for helping with these kinds of charitible projects. My local Kroger offered a $25 gift card that will be used in conjunction with the purchase of the over 2,000 cookies purchased.

I hope this information helps and you now feel prepared to step up and lead the way. If you still have any lingering questions, please don’t hesitate. Most of what I do these days is on limited sleep (yawn), so let me know if I’ve left anything out. I want to be as thorough and helpful as possible to ensure this is a success.