Westside Story – Dunk-A-Cop Raises $1,426.05

Once upon a time, they made a place called City of Lakewood, Washington, not to be confused with the town of Lakewood up north in King County, Washington or Lakewood, Colorado or Lakewood, California for that matter. I am talking about our Lakewood.

City-hood came in February 1996. It was not long before the new Lakewood City Council began to establish citizen advisory boards. We now have about 11 advisory boards. City Council’s move to set up these boards was an excellent accomplishment because it allowed ordinary tax paying citizens to become involved with their local government. The boards are helpful to City Council because Council benefits from citizen input as they process decisions in their effort to solve city problems.

Our current city council continues to support the citizen advisory board tradition and I compliment them for that.

The board I am most familiar with is the Public Safety Advisory Committee known as PSAC. This group deals with safety concerns brought to the committee by citizens or the City Council. On July 2016, I retired from the board after serving PSAC for two years. My departure means there is an opening on this committee. If you are interested in becoming a board member of PSAC or any of the other boards, contact City of Lakewood for more details.

Besides the obvious business at hand, members of PSAC recently volunteered to help with the 5th annual Lakewood SummerFEST centered at Fort Steilacoom Park.

Setting up for Dunk-A-Cop fund raiser.

PSAC hosted a dunk tank fund raiser. One of our members volunteered to pay the $75 dunk tank rental fee. Another used his truck and gas to transport the dunk tank. A couple of members set the tank up and then broke it down at the end of the day. West Pierce Fire and Rescue used a fire truck to fill the dunk tank with water. PSAC members manned the dunk tank all day which involved selling baseballs for use with the dunk tank, selling commemorative coins and receiving public free-will donations.

Citizens, especially kids, took aim and great joy as they tossed baseballs at the bullseye. Those hitting the 10 ring got to see the platform give way causing a police officer to drop into the cold water below. Joy and laughter were abound.

Dunk-A-Cop baseballs $2 each or 3 for $5.

At the completion of dunk tank day, $951.05 had accumulated in the dunk tank cash box.

Interestingly enough the fund raising continued after the dunk tank had been completely drained.

The next round of fund raising took place via a flurry of emails as various PSAC members cajoled, challenged and pushed other PSAC members to make financial donations so we could meet our minimum goal of $1,000, which would double the 2015 dunk tank take of $500.

As the emails flew back and forth good natured questions such as, “Hey, are you an awesome guy or just an ordinary bloke?” Typical answers were like, “Say, I always wanted to be an awesome guy, so here is my donation.” One “dunk-tankee” Lakewood officer chose to volunteer a $100 bail payment and thereby keep his powder dry, if you know what I mean. He was nowhere to be seen.

When all the dunk tank water was drained away and the internet dust settled, our City of Lakewood Public Safety Advisory Committee raised $1,426.05.

What is this money for you say? PSAC donated 100% of the funds to the Lakewood Police Department Officer Charity to by used for their “Shop With A Cop Program”. Thats right. All the money goes to help kids have a happy holiday when Christmas rolls around.

 

Congratulations PSAC for a job well done and thank you City Council for making PSAC a helpful community asset.

Does “dunkin” a cop sound like fun? If you missed it this year, look for it next year at the 6th annual Lakewood SummerFEST.