JPD Receives Donation From Country Financial’s Operation Helping Heroes

By Benjamin Cox on July 29, 2020 at 6:49pm

The Jacksonville Police Department received a donation on Tuesday to help with their officers’ fitness and wellness program. COUNTRY Financial Representative Rick Pettit presented Jacksonville Chief of Police Adam Mefford with a $1000 donation from Country Financial’s Operation Helping Heroes 2020 campaign. Pettit and Jacksonville Representative Brian Henry had both reached out to the JPD in recent weeks about a way to help out local officers.

Mefford says that the money will be used towards helping keep local police officers mentally and physically well in a program that the department started earlier this year: “We have had some recent guest speakers and some motivational speakers come in and talk to our officers about their health and wellness. We have just been trying to do some things to keep officers healthy, and we also have begun redoing and rebuilding a workout center here at the police department so officers can have a place to go and exercise and work out to help maintain their health and fitness.”

COUNTRY Financial recently tripled its initial pledge to its Operation Helping Heroes program and will now donate more than $3 million this year to organizations and programs that support local first responders and active duty service members.