Departments change, appreciation remains

When it comes to Monroe’s first responders, the last 12 months have brought changes. New officers have been sworn in, one has left and the fire department has gotten whole lot larger. But the one thing that hasn’t changed is the community’s appreciation for everything they do. 

Each year, that appreciation is exemplified during Monroe Police and Fire Appreciation Week, an annual tradition founded in 2000 by Monroe police and fire chaplains Sister Barbara Geib and Pastor Michael Hanford. Both Geib and Hanford have long-term service as police and fire chaplains, Geib serving since 1983 and Hanford since 1998. Typically held the week before Thanksgiving, Police and Fire Appreciation Week took place last week and included the annual appreciation luncheon on Friday, Nov. 18, at St. Mary of the Valley Catholic Church.  

Hanford said appreciation week initially only involved the police department. During the first appreciation luncheon, they took the police department to Galaxy Theater to watch “Remember the Titans,” a sports drama starring Denzel Washington. After the film, they celebrated in the theater’s birthdays and events room, all courtesy of Galaxy Theater.

Different organizations were readily willing to participate from the very beginning, Hanford said.

“The community was so ready and wanting to give thanks where thanks were way overdue,” he said. 

Eventually the event grew to include the fire department, extending into a week-long series of activities that includes classroom visits by both police officers and firefighters, cards and other tokens of gratitude crafted for first responders, donated meals and a formal proclamation of appreciation read by the mayor of Monroe and presented to the police and fire chiefs.

The Monroe Police and Fire Chaplains adopted a formal mission statement, to better communicate the week’s purpose. 

“The mission statement is to unite, coordinate and lead the community of Monroe in honoring and thanking our first responders,” Hanford said. “For going into harm’s way for us, for their faithful and sacrificial service and for their provision of security, protection, safety and order in our city.”

The Monroe Chamber of Commerce has been participating from the very beginning, Hanford said. Other local organizations have joined in, including the Monroe Ixtapa, which provides the food every year for the appreciation luncheon, the Monroe YMCA and numerous others. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a relatively new supporter of the event, having been a presence this year and last.

This year’s lunch event included a musical interlude performed by kids from Frank Wagner Elementary School and a poem read by eighth-grade students from the Monroe Christian School. Each student read a line from the poem, presenting the police and fire departments with a framed copy of the poem and a bouquet of yellow roses.

Presentations kicked off with Monroe Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Yvonne Gallardo-Van Ornam, who was followed by Jamie Williams from the Monroe YMCA. The Monroe Y has had recent interactions with both police officers and firefighters, Williams said. 

“We don’t always get to meet on the happiest of occasions, but we are so grateful for the work that you do,” she said.

Williams thanked firefighters for their dignified treatment of a Y member who became injured during an exercise class and had to be taken to the hospital. She is doing much better, Williams said, and was expected to be released from the hospital that day.

“The Monroe YMCA could not be more grateful for all that you do for us; all that you do for our community,” Williams said. “You are welcome any time in our facility to come and play with kids, stop and visit, we would love to have you — our doors are open.”

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Outreach Director Waqas Malik thanked the police and fire departments for their service.

“I am particularly appreciative of the work that these two departments do,” Malik said. “In the teachings of Islam there is a very fundamental teaching, which says that ‘Let there be a body of men who repel transgression in a society.’” 

To him, the men and women of the police and fire departments are that body of individuals. He said that he feels it’s that great capacity for service which seeks to inspire so many children to want to become first responders.

“There’s a reason why they want to become police officers or firefighters, apart from the fact that you have very nice uniforms,” Malik said. “It’s because of that core principal of service that you embody. So for that, I thank you.”

Other presenters included Snohomish County Fire District 7 Chief Gary Meek, Cascade Community Church Community Care Pastor Michael Penick and Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer. Quenzer said Monroe Police and Fire Appreciation Week is an event completely unique to the city of Monroe, and not something he’s experienced in other areas. It makes for a very grateful police department, he said.

“I’d like to say thank you to those who put this on,” Quenzer said. “I’ve been here for a few years now, and every year this is something that I look forward to. It’s really great.”

He added it’s also unique to find a community where the police and fire departments work so well together. He joked about referring to the fire department as the “Red Menace,” a reference that typically coincides with the annual Police versus Fire Flag Football fundraiser for the Monroe Boys & Girls Club.

“I got that from a good friend of mine who is a retired deputy chief for the New York City Police Department. He really meant it though, and we’re 100 percent the other way,” Quenzer said. “We appreciate the fire department.”

The room was decorated by volunteers from St. Mary’s, who set up the lunch buffet and served cake. For Geib, who has worked side by side with Monroe first responders for 33 years, it is a meaningful event. 

“They’re not just the Monroe Police Department and fire department,” Geib said. “They’re my family.”