Grants to Support our Responders

As a police chaplain I have been to roll calls, gone on ride alongs, engaged in conversations around the PD and other chaplain responsibilities. Kevin Shive contacted me in 2025 and told me there was a grant available for police chaplaincy at the Westminster Police Department. The funds could be used for body armor, uniforms, food, resources and any number of things.

Fellow chaplain Chris Knudsen and I discussed how to best support every member of our Westminster Police family. Large Harry and David gift baskets were purchased along with around 500 burritos for all shifts, divisions and teams, sworn and non-sworn. We wanted to make sure each member of the department knew they were thought of and appreciated by their chaplains.

One or both of us personally delivered the food. In addition to this we purchased t-shirts from Nine Line for each of our employees who work in our 911 Center during National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. The shirts were printed with the yellow dispatcher flag.

We were grateful to be able to honor this group of people who have a unique skill set and are a critical piece of providing support to our community, being the calm voice to the citizens needing immediate help and for directing and helping coordinate first responders handling these incidents. The use of the grant money opened the door for Chris and I to have personal contact with nearly every employee and have many conversations with our PD family. We heard many times how much they appreciated it.

Thank you, Kevin, for making us aware of the grant! Rest assured, it was put to good use and provided more opportunities to support the Westminster Police Department.

Chaplain Bob Dowling
Westminster PD, Colorado