Next Christmas won’t be as bright as it could be for dozens of families in the southernmost seven counties in Illinois served by the Illinois State Police District 22. According to a letter sent out by the executive committee of Operation CARE Bears, a 17-year-old tradition of State Troopers and the district’s telecommunicators providing needy children with clothes and other items on the kids’ wish lists for Christmas and food baskets for their families is no more.
Since 1994, the telecommunicators of District 22 have volunteered their time and efforts to Operation CARE Bears, a charity that began as a tribute to Trooper Steve Pankey, who died from a brain tumor that that year. Although based at the district, the gifts and food baskets provided each year are bought with private donations raised by the telecommunicators, not from government funding.
Sort of lost in the news of the controversial decision of Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to shut down several prisons in Illinois, has been his decision to remove communications operations in many ISP districts and consolidate them into regional communications centers. The TCs of District 22 (Alexander, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski and Union counties) are being removed and based in District 13 in Du Quoin, which will be the ISP’s communication center for the lower portion of the state.
In a letter to the friends and supporters of Operation CARE Bears, the organization’s committee explained, “Effective July 31st, the board members and volunteers who are the heart of CARE Bears will no longer be employed at District 22 Headquarters in Ullin. With these vital personnel no longer working in the area, the tradition of distributing food, clothing and gifts to deserving children in the lower 7 counties during the holiday season cannot continue.
Sad news. Not only is our region losing a worthwhile charitable organization, the Illinois State Police are losing a wonderful way to show a different side of these law-enforcement officers. When the troopers would drop off the Christmas presents it was hard to tell whose smiles were bigger – the kids’ or the troopers’.
I first became aware of the program covering delivery day at Christmastime in 2006. I had only a couple of weeks before become the editor of a local weekly newspaper covering the region. The press was always invited to cover these deliveries. I followed a trooper to the home of one of the recipients, snapped a few photos and was done.
By the next year, I had become more acquainted with people who work at District 22. Instead of following along I got to ride along with the district’s information officer, Trooper Bridget Rice, as she made deliveries. We got to a house that was dilapidated on the outside, but was spotlessly clean on the inside. There was a sparsely decorated Christmas tree in the living room – with nothing under it. The boys helped Rice carry in the packages. Their mother chatted with her for a few minutes. Usually the family members share a little of their life story with the officers. As she got back in her squad car, I could see that Trooper Rice’s eyes had welled a little with tears.
One year my dog, Trooper, and I got a little more involved. There wasn’t enough room in the squad for all the packages and food boxes (later on Operation CARE Bears would give food vouchers to the families instead), so we loaded up some of the boxes in my vehicle and I followed Trooper Rice out to one of the families. The kids were ecstatic with when she got there. The household had two families living in it. Everyone was laughing and smiling, and the mothers were thanking Rice for helping to make their Christmas so much brighter.
The families’ dog was standing close by. Lots of stuff for all the people, but we hadn’t brought anything for him. Search-and-rescue folks carry lots of gear in their vehicles. SAR K9 handlers carry even more – including dog treats. I had an unopened bag of treats in the car so I ran and got that. All the family members would have a little something for Christmas.
Operation CARE Bears would not have been possible all these years without the hard work and dedication of District 22’s telecommunicators and troopers. However, the TCs are the ones who have planned, organized and raised funds so that CARE Bears could help as many children and families as possible. Kenny Klein, the TC supervisor for the district and head of the CARE Bears committee, explained to me one year for an article, their eligibility standards were high – they wanted to reach the kids who had fallen through the cracks, so to speak. They worked closely with school nurses and others who might see a child in need of help.
Corporate sponsors made more gifts possible. Many local organizations helped at Christmastime with gift-wrapping. I know of a former CARE Bears recipient who helped wrap gifts one year. All the folks at 22 had CARE Bears stories that tugged at one’s heartstrings.
No one knew it then, but Christmas 2011 was to be CARE Bears’ last.
But it won’t be the last time the organization helps some children.
We are currently working with the Shawnee College Foundation to establish an endowment scholarship with the CARE Bears funds and assets. It is our intention that the CARE Bears tradition live on in Trooper Pankey’s honor, and we have decided that providing educational assistance annually to a student from each of the counties that CARE Bears served is the best way to continue to honor his memory,” stated the letter the committee sent out recently regarding the cessation of the charity.
Sources: Illinois State Police, Operation CARE Bears, original reporting
