Arriving at the Sheriff's Office
Bright and Early
Two of the four kids on this banner
were participants in the Deputy for a Day with Blake
Getting ready to be sworn in
Learning how to handcuff "bad guys"
Excited for a fun day
All the Participants in the Event
Make-A-Wish Deputy for a Day
The participants with the Sheriff
In the Swat Mobile!
Getting ready for the kids
Blake and his new friend
Blake's small group
Learning about SWAT tactics and weapons
Custom Sniper Rifle
Someone is a Hawkeye Fan!
Learning about sniper rifles from our friend the Hawkeye fan!
All geared up, ready for his SWAT mission
What a tough group of guys
Heading inside
Blake made an arrest
Booking her
Getting her finger prints
Talking to a new friend!
Getting ready to enter a crime scene
Surveying the damage
Gathering evidence
The whole big group of SWAT and CSI
with the kids!
Amazing Cake by Dreams by DC
Getting ready to work with the K-9 Unit
Waiting to be in a high speed car chase
Making the arrest!
Ready for a routine traffic stop
''
Turns out it was a drug bust!
Way to go Blake!
Taking a quick nap on the way back
Graduation Ceremony
What a fun day!
Big group of Volunteers, Participants, the Sheriff and quite a few Deputies!
Make-A-Wish and the Douglas County Sheriff's Department Nebraska had an event in honor of the 2000th wish being granted! They re-enacted the first wish, which was to spend a Day as a Deputy. They selected 15 former Wish recipients to participate. Blake was one of those kids. We started off the day early in the morning, meeting many of the volunteers, the Sheriff and several of the Deputies who work at the Sheriff's office. The kids all got their very own, personalized uniforms made by and boy did they all look wonderful! We had Donuts provided by Crispy Creme!
Once the Deputies were sworn in, they learned how to handcuff "bad guys", separated into groups and were on their way for an amazing day that will be a part of all of their memories forever!
Blake was grouped with his new friends Preston and Trey. They were a great group and worked very well together! The kids got to ride in the SWAT vehicle to the buildings the SWAT and CSI crime scene exercise were in. The Deputies showed them all the neat tools and weapons that the SWAT team uses when they have to extract a "bad guy". The kids were thrilled and hung on every word as they eagerly eyed everything. They were excited to try on helmets and lift shields, they even got to try on some body armor and proudly walked around wearing it.
Once they learned about the tools, weapons and some of the tactics, the boys got decked out in their SWAT gear, complete with fake blue guns, and headed inside to find "bad-guys" (who were really employees who had volunteered their Saturday to help with this experience for the wish kids). Each kid got to arrest their own bad guy and they all really enjoyed it. Once they made the arrest, they got to ride shotgun in the cruiser, learned how to work the lights and sirens, headed to the jail portion of the Sheriff's Office and booked their "bad guy". Blake really enjoyed it all and his "bad guy" was a lot of fun and protested being arrested. She was so nice to him, but funny at the same time.
Once all the "bad guys" were booked, they all headed back to the CSI crime lab and got to investigate a mock crime scene, they got to test red drops found on the floor to see if it was blood, they got to use lasers to trace the trajectory of a bullet, they got to use static electricity to lift a foot print from the floor and they even got to use glow in the dark spray to find even more foot prints!
After that portion of the adventure, we all headed back to the Sheriff's Office to eat some delicious pizza that was generously provided by Sam and Louie's Pizza (one of our absolute favorite places to eat!) and for desert there was an amazing cake and yummy, sparkly cupcakes provided by Dreams by DC!
We all filled up on pizza and cupcakes, then headed to the track where each kid got a turn to work with and command one of the K-9 unit's very own German Shepherds. The kids had so much fun, as did the families who watched from the sidelines as the police dogs took down the "bad guys"! One even took his bad guy down with a flying leap! It was thoroughly entertaining!
The next portion of the day was filled with high-speed chases and drug busts! All done within the safety of the training facilities of course! It was so much fun for all of the kids and their families, Blake had a very hard time deciding what his favorite part was, he had so many, he still hasn't stopped talking about it and we just love hearing all the details from his point of view.
A Million thanks to Make-A-Wish (yet again) and to the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, to Sam and Louie's (for the pizza), to Dreams by DC, Hy-Vee, First Student, Art F/X, Scheels, FOP Douglas County Lodge #2, Propper, Harmon Photography and any other sponsors and volunteers we may have missed! A special thanks goes out to Lauren who planned the event and sent out the information! I have always been very personally impressed by how amazingly organized Make-A-Wish is!
We cannot even begin to express how amazing this day was, how much of an impact it had on everyone there, volunteers, staff and participants alike. It was certainly a day none of us will ever forget. We had such an amazing time and we cannot say "Thank you!" enough!
