Mustangs Join the Force

On Thursday afternoon, the Mustangs were busy giving back to their community by volunteering at the Cops Care Camp. 

The Cops Care Camp is put on by School Resource Officers of the St. Joseph Police Department for school-age children during a week of the summer. 

“A lot of the kids, they're out of school and they don't have a lot of structure, so we developed this Cops Care Camp as a way of giving back,” said Chris Davis, St. Joseph SRO. 

The camp serves as a way for St. Joseph Police to connect with kids and show them officers care about them and want the best for them. 

“We have speakers come and talk to them from the community, the drug strike force, mental health [services], all those things that they would possibly encounter during their everyday life,” Davis said. “It’s to show them that police officers are humans, the same as them, and to build rapport with them, because unfortunately, there are some children that the only contact they have with law enforcement is negative.”

One stop the kids make as part of camp is to Phil Welch Stadium, where they played a game of wiffle ball with some Mustangs players. 

The afternoon was filled with laughter from the kids, players and officers as they all joined in on the fun of the game.  

“This event is awesome. These are the kind of kids that show up to our games and support us, so playing wiffle ball with them is the least we can do,” said Brayden Luikart, Mustangs outfielder. “It just means the world to us to have these kids in the stands, and so just giving back to them and letting them know that it's bigger than baseball [is awesome].”

- Morgan Albrecht