The Hogansville Police Department gave 90 Thanksgiving meals to local families last week. Chief Brian Harr said this is the fourth time the police department held its program and that it grows every year.

“The first year we tried to cook and invite people, but we found out really quickly that some people just can’t get out (of their homes). So, the second year we decided we were going to start delivering the meals to the actual people,” Harr said. “And that’s a good way for the officers and the staff and everything for us to get out and actually meet people eye to eye in the community. From our first year, I think we did maybe 30 or 40, and it’s steadily gotten bigger.”

The department starts planning for the program right after the Hummingbird Festival, Harr said.

This was the second year the department has partnered with Callaway High School and Hogansville Elementary School for a canned food drive. The three obtained more than 3,000 canned food items, the extra items were donated to local foodbank, God’s Bread Basket, Harr said.

“We’re able to take a lot of these canned foods and put them in program boxes,” he said. “And then that saves us money and gets us involved with the schools.”

Harr said this year’s donations were raised with help from members of the community.

“This is was great because we had a lot of private citizens step forward and say ‘hey look, we’ve heard about this program. We want to help out with it,’” he said. “Our biggest cost was probably the turkeys of course. I think we had private donations and business donations that covered almost all of the costs of turkeys this year.”

Harr said the event was a great way for law enforcement to connect with the community.

“A lot of times people don’t have a positive interaction with law enforcement. This is a way our officers can actually be a part of doing something nice for people,” he said.

Harr said he’s looking forward to next year’s Thanksgiving program.

“It’s getting bigger, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings with it,” he said.

“I wish we didn’t have this problem with people needing extra help in the holidays, but I’m glad that I’ve got people that will step up and take care of them.”