On December 4, the Clermont Police Department released a video on its social media outlets challenging first responders and the community to participate in the “Adopt a Soldier” program.
The program began after Clermont Detective Melissa France mentioned that she was collecting care packages for soldiers overseas at the request of a friend. Det. France quickly came up with the idea to challenge the community and area first responders to prepare care packages, “calling them out” in a challenge. Similar to what the community has seen on social media this past year, a video was prepared and multiple law enforcement agencies were called out by Chief Charles Broadway.
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“We have seen so many challenges, The Kiki, The Running Man, The Lip Sync, and many others this past year,” Chief Broadway said. “We are hoping for this challenge to take off and close out the year by inspiring the community to give back to our heroes overseas.”
After the video was released, we began to receive an amazing outpouring of support from the Clermont community, as well as those agencies that were “called out.” We even received counter video responses from other law enforcement agencies accepting the Adopt-A-Soldier Challenge.
To date, over 300 care packages have been received from the community to include the Groveland Police Department, the Leesburg Police Department and the Mount Dora Police Department.
The Groveland Police Department rose to the occasion and within 24 hours responded with a video of their own and called out the residents and businesses of Groveland to do their part in meeting the challenge. Groveland Police Department partnerships resulted in the collection of over 175 packages in the City of Groveland.
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Chief Broadway invited Groveland Police Chief Sean Ramsey to the Clermont Headquarters at 5 pm. on December 19 to deliver their answer to the Adopt-A-Solider Challenge.
“We invite everyone to come out and show support for our Troops,” Chief Broadway said. “With the generous support of the community, we are able to provide support for individuals who are risking their lives selflessly for the well-being of our country and for the well-being of the world. We truly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to bring a smile to the defenders of our democracy. It will truly be uplifting for them to receive something that lets them know that we support them.”
