(video) GCSO launches 'Operation Sheriff's Helpers' for the holidays

Garland County Under Sheriff Jason Lawrence plays with a German shepherd up for adoption Wednesday at Hot Springs Animal Services. - Photo by Grace Brown of The Sentinel-Record
Garland County Under Sheriff Jason Lawrence plays with a German shepherd up for adoption Wednesday at Hot Springs Animal Services. - Photo by Grace Brown of The Sentinel-Record

Santa has his elves and now thanks to an inaugural project launched earlier this week, Garland County has some elves of its own in the form of Garland County sheriff's deputies.

"Operation Sheriff's Helpers," a series of planned events with deputies "giving back to the community for the holidays," officially kicked off Wednesday with deputies helping the staff at the Hot Springs Animal Shelter prepare for its Home for the Holidays adoption event held Friday night, Deputy Courtney Kizer, the department's public information officer, said.

Deputies walked, fed, brushed and socialized the dogs and cats at the shelter for several hours to get them ready to meet potential adopters. They also attended the event Friday night, handing out $50 spay and neuter vouchers to attendees.

"It's important that we recognize this. I would say, and Sgt. Chris Lackey is with me on this, quite a few of the animals that are here are through the county. This is a way to bring attention so we can find those animals that are lost, abandoned, whatever they are, and hopefully find them good homes," Garland County Under Sheriff Jason Lawrence said.

"The Sheriff's Helpers are giving back to a worthwhile organization," he said.

Today, deputies held their fifth annual "Shop with the Sheriff" event with the children of the Compact Children's Home, taking them shopping for Christmas gifts and other items.

Kizer said the money for the shopping spree was raised by Ben Briggs and the staff and customers at 3Bs Bar and Grill, 630 Ouachita Ave., along with others "to allow for a certain amount of money to be spent on each child that resides at the children's home," Kizer said.

As he has done in past years, Anthony Valinoti, the owner of Deluca's Pizzeria, 831 Central Ave., fed the children, Compact's staff and all the volunteers from the sheriff's office "prior to us all shopping," she said.

Coming events include deputies going to Village Springs Health and Rehab, 1208 Highway 7 north, on Thursday to deliver dental and hygiene items to the residents there. Kizer noted the items were donated by several dental offices in Hot Springs.

On Dec. 23, deputies will be delivering stuffed animals to children admitted into National Park Medical Center and CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs. From 5 to 6 p.m. that same day, deputies will be in the dining hall at The Salvation Army of Hot Springs, 115 Crescent St., handing out coats, blankets, socks and other necessities "to the less fortunate in Garland County," she said.

"We will also be providing bears, coloring books, stickers, etc. from our department to the kids," Kizer said, noting that throughout the year the Hot Springs Women's Welcome Club and various other groups donated the stuffed animals given out.

"Our deputies themselves have been purchasing items listed on the 'Residents Wish Lists' at Village Springs as well as gathering items to bring to The Salvation Army event," she said. "We are very blessed to have so many deputies that feel the need to give back and have wanted to be involved in 'Operation Sheriff's Helpers.'

"This is the first time we have done something like this," she said. "Several deputies had been discussing ways we could give back to the community and the discussion just happened to have started in November."

She said they came up with various areas in the community that "possibly needed assistance or donations or happened to get overlooked" and decided to develop them as outreach projects.

"I started in October here at the sheriff's office and began to reach out to groups in the community about our agency getting involved," Kizer said." Our hope is that the relationships between the sheriff's office and our community members will grow and we can follow up on events like these several times a year."

Local on 12/15/2019

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