Kickoff Events Begin Nationwide Ahead of Faith & Blue Weekend

On Wednesday morning, customers driving through the Puyallup, WA Starbucks were surprised when instead of a barista, it was a local police officer who handed them their coffee. This week cops could be found scooping ice cream and chatting with parishioners of ten different churches at Plainfield, Indiana’s Federation of Churches ice cream social, and in Clovis, California thousands came by for a fun fair, football toss contest, and drone light display in the Faith and Blue Clovis Night Out. 

And that’s all before the weekend even begins. 

This weekend will mark the fourth annual Faith and Blue Weekend, and it is set to be bigger than ever. There will be small towns (Sea Girt, New Jersey, pop. 1,877 is hosting a toy drive) and big cities (a pancake breakfast in Orlando, Florida), rural communities (a prayer service with the Flathead Tribal Police in Ronan, Montana), and urban enclaves (an ice cream social in downtown Chicago). 

With events in almost 700 communities across the nation this weekend is testament to a clear and simple truth: given the chance, communities are hungry for connection with the officers who serve them. In the next five days, from pumpkin carving to river clean-ups, we are excited to watch thousands of opportunities for community building and connection play out across the country.