By Nick Poust
It’s the season of giving, and members of the Carmel Police Dept. are doing their part to help families in need this holiday season. The Carmel Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 185 Foundation held its annual Thanksgiving food basket fundraiser Nov. 12 at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds. Volunteers, including members of the police department and their families, helped put together 500 boxes of goods containing enough food for 500 Hamilton County families to ring in the holidays.
Nate Hill, executive director the FOP Lodge 185 Foundation, has had a hand in the Thanksgiving food drive since 2009.
“We can interface and interact with all of these people on a positive basis,” Hill said. “Unfortunately not all of our job is positive interaction, so this gives our officers a chance outside of police work to get out there and get involved with the community in a charitable way.”
Each food basket costs $30 to $40. FOP partners with Kroger and NextGear to acquire the goods necessary for the baskets.
“It’s really just breaking it down and saving as much as we can per box,” Hill said. “We can get more food packed in there to make this stretch for these families.”
This year, instead of turkey, FOP went with ham as the meat of choice. These hams, purchased through Kroger, will be handed out with the food baskets at the time of delivery.
“Turkey this time of year is cheaper, but then we’ve got to look at the waste product to go with it,” Hill said. “That way they can use the entire ham.”
In addition to the Thanksgiving food drive, there will be a Christmas dinner assembly on Dec. 3, with boxes put together to help feed 500 additional Hamilton County families in need.
“It’s fantastic,” Hill said. “It’s a really great feeling. Obviously the holidays are a good feeling for everybody. You just kind of get that spirit of everybody coming together.”
