Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Foundation
The Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, EIN 83-2909957, created in honor of our former FOP President, the late Jack Lokiensky who lost his battle with cancer. Jack was always encouraging us to build community and find ways to make a real difference.
The mission of the Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Foundation is to strive every day to attain our goal of “Connecting While Protecting”. We are able to do this by:
Assisting Law Enforcement Officers during their time of need. When hard times occur in the lives of our officers, they need to know that we’re behind them all the way. To “Protect Those Who Protect Us”. Donations allow us to assist officers and their families during times of difficulty due to hardships related to illness, injury or military deployment. This assistance is especially needed during the holidays.
Promoting and Supporting the Community. We believe in the power of personal connections and the positive change that can be achieved through those relationships. To be truly successful in this endeavor, we know we must strive to do more than simply protect and serve. We are dedicated to remaining actively involved in our communities, engaging and partnering with civic groups, and individual citizens to achieve our shared vision of a safer and better Fort Lauderdale for all. Some of our activities include
Backpack Giveaway - assist with providing youth with school supplies
Santa Stop/Shop with a Cop – assist families in our community provide Christmas to their children who may not otherwise be able to.
Fort Lauderdale FOP “Connecting While Protecting” Reading Program - Learning and character building – one page at a time.
This program began three (3) years ago at Walker Elementary School in two (2) third grade classes. First, we wanted to establish consistency. In order to do that, we committed to coming and reading every other week from the programs start to finish. Our readers were in the same classrooms every time. As the program progressed, the kids saw the same two officers, and a connection developed. And the connection goes both ways — this interaction helps build morale among officers by replacing the standard operation of being constantly called to negative situations with opportunities to be involved in positive interactions.
In this program, we used character development books and included virtues such as Commitment, Honesty, Courage, Respect, and Tolerance. After each book was read to the students, they authored a book report and received a stamp in their "reading passport." Each student who completed all the program assignments, and read all of the books, received a "prize" at the program graduation ceremony held in June. This year each student was given an Amazon Kindle E-reader which allowed them access to books through Broward County’s library system free of charge.
In this program, we used character development books and included virtues such as Commitment, Honesty, Courage, Respect, and Tolerance. After each book was read to the students, they authored a book report and received a stamp in their "reading passport." Each student who completed all the program assignments, and read all of the books, received a "prize" at the program graduation ceremony held in June. This year each student was given an Amazon Kindle E-reader which allowed them access to books through Broward County’s library system free of charge.
One teacher proudly reported the following:
My FSA Reading scores for this year were even better than last year!
20 students tested
95% of my students passed
45% of my students were proficient
Since its inception, we are now reading to over 120 students at Walker Elementary, North Side Elementary and Harbordale Elementary.
It is through this engagement that we are able to break down barriers and strengthen community bonds while building trust and understanding. Believe in Your Community – When Everyone Gives a Little, It Becomes A LOT!
No matter their position within the department, each one of FLPD’s sworn officers have pledged their service to preserve our city and safeguard its citizens
Sincerely,
Brandon Diaz, President
