“Savannah’s Challenge” comes to St. Bernard as school children say thank you to police officers

Darlene Cusanza, President and CEO of Crimestoppers GNO, talks to students at Prompt Succor School about the project to have students write thank you cards to law enforcement officers thanking them for the job they do.	Prompt Succor School Principal Sharon Coll speaks as students and teachers gather behind her.
Prompt Succor School students present baskets of snacks to officers attending the event.	Sheriff James Pohlmann speaks with students at Arabi Elementary
At Arabi Elementary, Sheriff James Pohlmann, Principal Carla Carollo and Crimestoppers GNO President Darlene Cusanza, with students behind them.	At Arabi Elementari, deputies, Sheriff Pohlmann, Principal Carollo and Cusanza of Crimestoppers with third-grade students.

Saying thank you to police officers for the jobs they do is a big undertaking.

In St. Bernard Parish, school children have accepted “Savannah’s Challenge,’’ a mushrooming project of a young Texas girl named Savannah Solis, who began writing cards to officers to thank them for protecting her community.

“My goal is to tell as many police officers as I can that I love them, and I am thankful for all that they do for us,” Solis has said, adding she is trying to change negativity directed toward police officers. She was moved to send 200 cards to police in New York after NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot and killed in their patrol car last December.

In association with Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans, St. Bernard children have begun presenting hundreds of cards to officers of the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office, with Sheriff James Pohlmann expressing appreciation for their effort.

Some of the cards are poignant, such as a boy who thanked officers for saving his life after he was once bitten by a pit bull. Others are cute, like a girl who wrote, “You inspire me to be a cop, fireman or government agent. I might be all three of them.’’

Others are just straight-forward. Like one who said, “You protect us. You bring justice’’ and another who wrote, “I like you cause you help people be safe.’’

Darlene Cusanza, President and CEO of Crimestoppers – the nonprofit group that offers rewards for information leading to arrests in high-profile crimes – along with Sheriff Pohlmann and about 20 sheriff’s deputies from all divisions took part in receiving cards of thanks at two St. Bernard schools.

Students at Our Lady of Prompt Succor School and at Arabi Elementary presented several hundred cards that Crimestoppers had asked schools to prepare. Other schools will also present cards.

Cusanza said thousands of cards were sent by her group for school students in 3rd- through 7th-grades in St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany and other parishes in the New Orleans area.

Crimestoppers issued a challenge to the private and public schools to join them in writing thank you letters to local law enforcement to thank them for all they do for the community, Cusanza said.

At an assembly at Prompt Succor, Principal Sharon Coll told students, teachers and officers that it is proper to thank officers for the jobs they do. Students also presented officers with baskets of snacks as well as thank you cards.

“I have lived here most of my life and I’ve never felt so safe,’’ the principal said.

Cusanza thanked students for preparing the cards and said of police: “They have the courage to protect us.’’

Sheriff Pohlmann said, “Law enforcement officers are going through challenging times’’ because of heightened negative feelings toward some police around the country.

But receiving such thank you cards makes officers feel appreciated, he said.

At Arabi Elementary, Principal Carla Carollo told students and officers, “We have had great response’’ from deputies to any problems in the neighborhood, “We feel confident and safe. (Police) do a good job.’’