A Successful Kids and Cops Baseball Season for Woodstock Police

Friday, 27 August 2021 at 06:27

Photo Credit: Woodstock Police Service Facebook page, @woodstockpolice

About 20 local kids got to participate in the very first Kids and Cops baseball season in Woodstock this summer.

WOODSTOCK - The inaugural Kids and Cops baseball season wrapped up this week.

Woodstock Police officers volunteered their time this year to teach local youth the great game of baseball.

Special Constable Shaylyn Jackson explains how they selected the kids for the program.

"We partnered with Oxford County Housing and BBBS Oxford to identify kids in the community, who maybe wouldn't have the opportunity to participate in organized sports. We started off the season with approximately 20 kids, we are hopeful that next year, if COVID clears up, that we can grow this program to include more kids."

Jackson says they had their last practice on Wednesday, which included a couple of special guest visits.

"We had members of the containment team to do some show and tell and show off some of the cool equipment they carry with them when their working. We had the fire department swing by to talk about fire safety and they had a chance to explore a fire truck. We had the K-9 unit, Striker joined us and one of his friends from the London K-9 unit Cooper and they did a demonstration for the kids. Todd's Dogs provided lunch and Tim Horton's brought some snacks, it was a lot of fun and a great way to wrap up the season."

Part of the program also had the kids go back into their communities for a special clean up. Jackson says they had a blast doing that.

"We had the ability to attend the kids communities and neighbourhoods and clean up some of those areas. We had big help from the City of Woodstock, they provided some tools to clean up the parks and areas near their homes. They had just as much cleaning up their communities as they did playing baseball."

The Woodstock Police Service hopes to see the program expand to include more kids next year.

Canadian Tire Jump Start has helped out with the program as well, providing gloves and bats for the program, so every kid can have their own baseball glove.

Local restaurants also helped out, by providing free lunches. The City of Woodstock also provided transit to make sure every kid in the program is able to attend.