Advocate makes donation to GPD

Published 3:34 pm Monday, June 13, 2016

The Greenville Advocate donated $470 to the Greenville Police Department on Monday. The funds were raised through a child safety coloring book that was published by the newspaper and featured sketches of local law enforcement officers. Pictured are Greenville Advocate marketing coordinator April Gregory and Greenville Police Chief Lonzo Ingram. (Advocate Staff/Tracy Salter)

The Greenville Advocate donated $470 to the Greenville Police Department on Monday. The funds were raised through a child safety coloring book that was published by the newspaper and featured sketches of local law enforcement officers. Pictured are Greenville Advocate marketing coordinator April Gregory and Greenville Police Chief Lonzo Ingram. (Advocate Staff/Tracy Salter)

Helping children remember safety tips can sometimes take a little colorful help.

The Greenville Advocate, in cooperation with local law enforcement and area businesses, recently published a child safety coloring book that was distributed in the newspaper and to local schools in the county to help introduce law enforcement officers and to help them learn what to do in case they are confronted with an emergency situation.

“The opportunity for the department to be involved in the coloring book project was a nice way to introduce police officers to the community and to help remind children that police officers are here to protect and serve the citizens of the community,” said Greenville Police Department Chief Lonzo Ingram.

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Greenville Advocate marketing coordinator April Gregory, said the coloring book not only allows the Advocate to be actively involved in educating local youth, but it also serves as an opportunity to introduce city and county law enforcement officers to the children by featuring photographs of the officers that were turned into sketches so children could color the images.

“The support of area businesses through advertising sponsorships speaks volumes to what a great job the local law enforcement and other first responders in the county do,” she said.

The Greenville Advocate donated a portion of funds generated by area sponsorships to the Greenville Police Department to be used to help offset expenses of training and safety meetings throughout the year.

The coloring book was published and distributed in May and featured safety tips ranging from how to say no to drugs to school safety to fire and electrical safety.

The publication also introduced local law enforcement officers and an overview of what each officer and department does.

Manpower, was one of the many businesses in the area to provide support for the project.

“The law enforcement coloring book was an excellent idea for our children,” said Natalie Tindal, Manpower branch manager . “Not only did it provide the children with something fun to do, but it allowed them to meet the officers and understand the importance of having law enforcement in our community. Manpower was proud to sponsor an ad for such an important part of building the future for our youth.”

Copies of the coloring book can be found at The Greenville Advocate, the Greenville Police Department and the Butler County Sheriff Department.