Local girls donate stuffed animals to help HPD when they encounter children affected by domestic violence or trauma

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For police officers, domestic violence or severe accidents are unfortunately a fairly regular part of the job. For the young children involved, these situations are especially traumatic.

In an effort to alleviate the stress of those younger victims, a group of girls from the PreCision Mentoring Program put together a project. After gathering as many as they could, the girls donated over 150 stuffed animals to the Hollywood Police Department.

The idea is for officers to have a means to ease the mental burden of a child experiencing trauma. Officers will now leave the station with a few stuffed animals in their patrol cars. Something so simple as a teddy bear could be a godsend to a child in a moment of distress.

“Our officers routinely come across young children having to cope with a traumatic situation. Having these stuffed animals ready to hand out to during a time of turmoil is invaluable. This gives them something to hold on to, and hopefully brings them some comfort. We are very thankful that the PreCision girls decided to collect these stuffed animals; they are a wonderful example of giving back to their community,” said Acting Chief Chris O’Brien of the Hollywood Police Department.

Felicia M. Brunson, founder of the PreCision Mentoring Program, loved the project. “PreCision is a summer mentoring program that exists to empower girls aged 7-18 by promoting self-esteem and the development of leadership skills. Each summer the girls participate in a community service project. They wanted to shed some positive light on the law enforcement community while adding some sunshine to young people in unfortunate situations.” said Brunson.

The Hollywood Police Department is accepting donations of stuffed animals indefinitely if you would like to drop some off the Department is located at 3250 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, FL 33021.

Author: Amanda Jones
Author: Amanda Jones

Amanda Jones specializes in social media marketing. She holds a Master's degree in Social Media Management from the University of Florida and a Social Media Professional Certificate from the University of Miami.

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