Beyond the Badge Foundation fills over 4000 schoolbags to help prepare Marylanders for the new school year

BALTIMORE -- It can be burdensome for some families to buy school supplies for their children. But Beyond the Badge Foundation members hung up their law enforcement uniforms Saturday to assure thousands of students are ready for their first day of school.

As music pumps up the team, about 70 volunteers flooded the Harriet Tubman Center in Columbia to stuff paper, pencils, and more in brand new bookbags for children in need.

16 Title I schools spanning from Baltimore to Washington D.C. will receive the school supplies to pass out to students.

Jessica Owens eagerly joined the assembly line to pack the bookbags in honor of the Lydia Harris Missionary Society of Mt. Giboa AME Church. She said her heart is filled with gratitude to be able to deliver 300 bookbags to Hillcrest Elementary School in Catonsville.

"A lot of kids don't have backpacks," Harris said. "A lot of kids don't have the bare necessities. So, to be able to provide this to them...is just grateful."

This year, the Beyond the Badge Foundation set a new record of packing nearly 4300 backpacks.

An accomplishment that touches the organization's co-founder and Howard County Police Officer Raymond Peele.

"And one little girl came up to me… I will never forget it," he said. "She came up to me and said 'Why me?' This is so nice of you. Why do I get to have a nice bag? And I got a little emotional, I had to turn away. But right then, it kind of validated why I really needed to do this."

The supply drive has become a tradition with this year marking the 4th anniversary.

Hanging up the uniform and switching to leisure wear, Lt. Lance Bergersen with the Howard County Police Department said he had the idea for the Beyond the Badge Foundation back in 2015. 

He started the organization with Peele to help bridge the relationship gap between law enforcement and the community.

"Just making sure we have that connection with our youth," Bergersen said. "So, as they grow that relationship between our youth and our police departments stays strong."

The bookbags are now packed in trucks and volunteers' cars to be delivered to children on the first day of school.