When Lexus Harper becomes a police officer, she will remember the experience she had Tuesday.
She and some of her fellow second-year police foundations students from Georgian College’s Orillia campus were at the Lighthouse Soup Kitchen and Shelter, preparing and serving dinner to guests.
“It’s important to be really involved in the community, and this is the forefront right here: helping people in need,” Harper said.
Police often deal with marginalized residents – the homeless, the addicted, and those with mental health problems. By volunteering like the students did Tuesday, “you get to see them as people, and not where the problems start,” Harper said.
“It’s our job to care to about them all the time, not just when there’s a problem.”
Brett Boniface agreed, and he would know. The Orillia OPP constable is with the detachment’s community mobilization unit, which has officers conducting foot patrol and dealing with vulnerable people.
“We want to be leaders in our community. It’s important they have those leadership qualities,” said Boniface, who joined the students’ effort Tuesday.
The experience will be helpful when the students become officers, he said.
“The main thing you take away from it is the ability to interact with people of all walks of life.”
That type of community outreach aligns with Georgian’s philosophy of “experiential learning,” said Karen Bell, who teaches a mental health course to the second-year police foundations students.
“It’s really important for students to get some real-life experience in the community,” she said. “They will be working on the front line and they need to have that exposure.”
Bell thanked Back to Function for providing the food Tuesday.
