For the past year, every Tuesday and Saturday evening, the Crossfire Youth Ministries hold family nights at their Youth Center in the 1100 Block of Centre Street in Ashland. But this past Tuesday evening, they had some special guests, the Ashland Police Department and the Schuylkill County Sheriff’s Office.
The event was sponsored by the Ashland Elks Lodge in conjunction with the Sheriff’s Office and borough police. Free hot dogs, donuts, and drinks were provided.
“I love having law enforcement and community come together, because in today’s age, so many kids fear the police, and this is one event where they could flesh to it. We had a great turnout tonight and we are here to serve the community” Jim Horning, Director of Crossfire Youth Ministries, said.
Roughly 60 kids attended the event.
Schuylkill County Sheriff Joseph Groody was on hand and offered fingerprinting for the kids. Those fingerprints are then given to the children’s parents to keep locked away in case of an emergency.
“When you walk in here and see what Crossfire is doing for the youth today, it’s unbelievable. It’s a great honor for me to be here and help the kids. Events like this give us the opportunity to establish a rapport with the kids and I could see some were afraid to come up to me, but after you talk to them, they got friendly.” Sheriff Groody said.
The Sheriff’s Office and Borough Police had their vehicles available for the kids to check out and hit the siren a time or two.
Ashland Police Chief Ger Daley and Borough Police Office Drew Weaver played basketball and football with the kids.
“This was a great event for the community, and I want to thank Jim and Crossfire Youth Ministries for coming to town and I can’t believe the amount of support for an event like this and for the youth center. It’s overwhelming, it’s nice to come out and hang with the kids and have the officers play football and basketball. We hope to do this again soon. “Chief Daley said.
Story and Photos by J. Reed
