Philly police hosting 53rd annual Operation Thanksgiving
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- People are already heading to the airport and hitting the roads for the Thanksgiving holiday. While the travel rush is on, instead of heading out the door some people are spending their morning making sure other families have a Thanksgiving meal.
It's no secret the Philadelphia Police Department has many ongoing operations, but during the holidays, they roll out one that's less convert and more conventional.
"This is because of the intrinsic need of our officers to give back to their communities in which they serve in a collaborative way," police commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.
Operation Thanksgiving is underway Tuesday at Philadelphia Police headquarters. It's the 53rd annual event where they'll be delivering dinner baskets to more than 200 families across the city.
"This is very important we have some families who start calling as early as February to get their names on the list," Officer Sheniece Clements said.
Officers and civilian employees with the police department will pack and deliver the boxes to families in the 21 police districts. Each box contains a 12-to-16-pound turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans and gravy.
They also include a note from commissioner Danielle Outlaw offering well wishes from the department. Department employees donated more than $8,000 to cover the cost of the holiday goodies in each box.
For more than 20 years officer David Jones has been the mastermind behind the operation. Tuesday also happens to be the day he officially retires from the department.
"We're hoping that over the years ahead we can get more donations in from our officers and civilians and increase the number of donations we can give," Jones said.
As the boxes were loaded up to head to the homes, Outlaw acknowledged there was more work to be done.
"I hope by again them seeing our officers in a completely different way in fellowship outside of enforcement action it continues to build down a lot of the walls that have been built over the years," Outlaw said.