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(Rome News-Tribune) – More than 300 first responders were treated to breakfast and lunch Friday thanks to Bankers United for First Responders.
“All nine banks in our community came together,” said Kay Chumbler of Heritage First Bank. “All nine had staff come to help serve as well. Many of the volunteers gave up their own lunch hours to come help.”
The day started early for everyone, many of the volunteers arrived at the municipal courtroom at the Joint Law Enforcement Center at 6:30 a.m. to get everything ready for the first crowd to come through after third shift ended. Breakfast was served from 6:45 to 10 a.m. and then lunch was served from noon to 3 p.m.
“For the last month or so, I’ve seen the pain in the police chiefs’ faces as they’ve had to hold their troops together and encourage them through all of the tragedies happening across the nation, Chumbler said. “We just wanted to do something that would make them feel appreciated.”
Rome and Floyd police were invited, as well as the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, all the EMT units, the fire department, the 911 center, the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency and the coroner’s office.
“We delivered food to the agencies that couldn’t break away to come by,” said Chumbler.
Chumbler added she received a lot of sweet emails after she began inviting the first responders.
“Troy Brock, the fire chief, emailed me and said ‘This is something big for y’all to do for us,’” she said. “That made me feel good.”
Jennifer Ray, the district manager for Wells Fargo, said she was especially proud to participate. Her husband is a firefighter in Bartow County, so this hit home for her.
“Our country is in a pretty scary place right now,” she said. “It is even more scary for the families of first responders. It means a lot to these folks that the community comes together to help and show appreciation like this.”
Sgt. Brandon Ekey of the Rome police grabbed himself some food before starting his shift.
“We love this,” he said. “Being able to eat with some of our fellow police before we hit the road at 3 p.m. is great.”
Rome police Lt. Chris DeHart also stopped by before starting his shift. He said he feels like what is happening in other parts of the country thankfully is not an issue here in Rome.
“When it comes to the current state of affairs happening across the country, I have to say what exists in other places, doesn’t exist here,” he said. “We don’t have that anti-police feeling here. Not everyone is always happy with us, but it is usually small, individual issues or someone being upset with the situation rather than officers overall.”
