Local police departments have responded to a plea for uniforms for first responders in the North Carolina area recently hit by Hurricane Helene.  Many of them had lost their own homes but were constantly working to assist their communities, most having only the one uniform they wore when they left home with prior to the storm.

A Facebook post by retired Deputy Sheriff Greg Franklin of Lincoln Parish (now a deputy city marshal in Ruston) informed his contacts that a North Carolina Sheriff’s Department had contacted Ruston’s 5.11 by Karl Malone store, seeking second-hand pants or uniform tops for the first responders. 

He explained that Chief Bill Pace of West Sterlington Fire Department was loading up two of his personal over-the-road truck & trailers to deliver supplies earlier this month.  The goal was to send new and old pants along with boots “as theirs are full of water.”  

Both the Winnfield and Dodson Police Departments responded.  Between the two departments, 10 full bags of clothing, shirts and pants, were delivered to Ruston, along with two boxes of dry towels and sheets from the Rodeway Inn here.

Assistant Chief Charles Curry of the Winnfield Police Department explains, “I have known Greg Franklin for over 30 years as we served together in the 527th Engineer Battalion stationed in Ruston. We worked on many Humanitarian relief efforts together and deployed overseas during Desert Storm. 

“I knew that we had many duty and tactical uniforms stored away from the past, usually left by officers who had left the Winnfield Police Department. Knowing that our community suffered this same destructive force four years ago when Hurricane Laura hit, I felt the need to send as many of these uniforms as I could.”

Curry re-posted Franklin’s request on the Winnfield Police page. Responding to the call was the Dodson Police Department and the Rodeway Inn of Winnfield whose donations were taken to the 5.11 Store in Ruston and loaded onto the trucks to be sent to those first responders in need.

“It was a privilege to be able to assist another community of first responders, knowing first-hand the difficult tasks they were experiencing,”  Curry concluded, thanking Dodson Chief Daniel Hagan and the Rodeway Inn for their support.