SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – It’s the national Faith and Blue Weekend that focuses on police departments connecting with their communities.
It started in 2020 and now, two years later, almost 700 communities are participating, including some from our area.
The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office held its local Faith and Blue event Saturday, which Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie says is aimed at building relationships with people his department and other law enforcement agencies emergency are there to protect.
“Law enforcement in general, when they leave the house every morning, their idea is to go out and keep people safe. Make the streets safe for people to enjoy and have a good time, don’t lock people up or stop them from speeding, just keeping people safe. We are people just like everyone else, and we have friendships and relationships that we want to build,” said Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy Mcduffie.
And there’s no better way to do that than by having a little fun. In Faith in Blue, members of the sheriff’s office took turns sitting in a breakout tank, there were bounce houses, ponies, K-9s.
All things law enforcement and civilians could enjoy together.
It was also a great opportunity to familiarize children with law enforcement, says one man who brought his children to the event.
“More of our younger youth need to be more involved in learning the history and what law enforcement, the fire department and EMS, just isn’t law enforcement. They are all the services that protect us every day,” said Effingham Co. resident Jeff Labonte.
Sheriff McDuffie says his office is excited to serve Effingham County and events like this highlight why it is such a special place to be.
“I tell people all the time it’s the biggest county in the biggest state in the biggest country. I’ll argue that point with anybody. But it’s really important for us to do this, get to know the community, get to know the people that is out there and make us known.”
There was also a prayer every half hour during the event, which McDuffie says only brought everyone closer together.
During the day, the Sheriff’s Office also held the Deputy Duck Derby.
People raced rubber ducks in a “random” river, and the top five finishers in each race won a prize.
The race doubled as a fundraiser for the Georgia Sheriff’s Youth Homes, which provides full-time residential care for at-risk children.
Sheriff McDuffie says there are five campuses across the state and proceeds from the fundraiser go to help the kids who stay there.
“It gives them a home and a place to go, and they can stay in these youth homes for as long as they need. Any time we can raise money to benefit these youth homes, that’s what we have to do. It’s a big thing across the state. We have 159 sheriffs that try to do benefits and different things like this to help bring in that money to help keep these youth homes going.”
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