FMPD is tackling child hunger with the C.O.A.C.H. program

The Fort Myers Police Department say they are seeing a rise in food thefts, and they want to put a stop to it by befriending kids in need and providing them with food.

That’s how they came up with the C.O.A.C.H. program.

Imagine being so hungry that you’d break the law for food.

“I went to a call that was a burglary and come to find out the only thing that was stolen from this house was baby clothes, baby food and food itself,” said FMPD Sergeant Jackie Garrett.

Garrett has lived in Southwest Florida for 40 years and has worked with FMPD for 20 years, five of those years as an SRO.

She says crime and hunger go hand-in-hand here in Fort Myers more than people realize.

“There is such a huge correlation between hunger, poverty, and crime, if we could help take away one aspect of that, hopefully families, juveniles would not go towards crime,” she said.

So Garrett co-created C.O.A.C.H., or Community Outreach Against Child Hunger, to collect food and donations for families in need.

“We reached out to different schools to see where the need was – come to find out Franklin Park ended up being the highest poverty level school in all of Lee County,” she said.

Garrett spends her days off collecting items, and she invites anyone to donate non-perishables and other items to the cause to be a part of a community fighting hunger.

The C.O.A.C.H. campaign invites the community to bring donations to the Millennial Brewing Company next Friday. The FMPD is hosting an auction with a raffle and all proceeds will go to helping families in need.

You can find more information here.