LIMA — For 24 years, it has served as the kickoff to the pancake breakfast season in the Lima area, and on Saturday, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 21 on Robb Avenue was packed for the FOP’s annual pancake day.
“It’s the biggest fundraiser we have for the FOP,” Lodge 21 financial secretary Alan Mefferd said. “We don’t use this for operating expenses so much as much as we do for our charitable donations.”
Every year, the event, complete with its menu of pancakes and sausage, brings thousands to the lodge.
“We’ve had as many as 8,000 and as few as 5,000,” Mefferd said. “I think we’ll be on the high end this year.”
One of the biggest charitable works the FOP oversees is the Cops and Kids Christmas shopping event in December, which pairs police officers with underpriviledged children to shop for Christmas gifts, clothing and other essentials for themselves and their families.
“Honestly, that’s my favorite day of the year,” Mefferd said. “I like that even better than Christmas.”
Other charitable works include donations to local DARE programs, the Soap Box Derby, Special Olympics and also aiding police officers who have been affected by national disasters.
“We sent some money to the national FOP, which is helping victims of the Louisiana flood,” Mefferd said. “We had a police officer in Xenia whose house burnt down and she lost everything, including her uniforms. So we bought a new uniform for her.”
FOP Lodge 21 president Mike Watkins noted that without the community supporting the FOP’s efforts, none of that help would be possible.
“We really appreciate the community’s support year after year,” he said. “More and more people need help all the time. We try to do as much as we can, and we wish we could do more.”
Mefferd also hopes that events like this can also help form more relationships between law enforcement and the surrounding community.
“We want to tell people that we have hearts, we have souls too,” he said. “This is one way we want to give back to the community.”
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