Shreveport Police Dept.

Date: Feb. 14, 2003

Phone: 318/673-6932 Fax: 318/673-6933

Contact: Kacee Hargrave, Public Information Officer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Police Pastors to deliver gifts of reading

Young patients at Shriners Hospital for Children will be given Valentine’s Day greetings and gifts from the Shreveport Police Department this afternoon.

The SPD Auxiliary Unit and Police Pastors will meet at the hospital at 4 p.m. to hand out books, teddy bears and other stuffed animals to about 45 children. It is hoped the gifts will inspire and educate the children, as well as foster their creative spirit.

The visit was planned by the Shreveport Police Department’s Community Services Unit and made possible by a collection drive that resulted in the donation of thousands of children’s books and stuffed animals.

The collection effort was launched from Project Read, an annual SPD program in which officers and community volunteers go to classrooms and read to children.

Dozens of contributors made the collection possible, including Caddo Magnet student Catherine Sales, who singlehandedly collected hundreds of books.

Anyone who would like to receive some of these books or stuffed animals for their children can call Lt. Wendell Delaney at 673-6950.

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View all SPD press releases at www.ci.shreveport.la.us/dept/police/spdnews