Dothan school hosts Officer Appreciation Day

Dozens of first responders from various law enforcement agencies in the Wiregrass came by Emmanuel Christian School.

It was the 3rd annual Officer Appreciation Day, but it took on a new meaning.

Emmanual Student Vice President, Macey Triplett said, "I know that Hurricane Michael had a huge impact, and we still have a lot of officers that are out there in the Wiregrass, and in Florida that are having to do a lot of work. ."

Whether it was letting the kids sit in the helicopter, or getting to meet some of the K-9 members of the Wiregrass' finest, every officer was happy to give the kids a look at the ins and outs of what they do.

Dale County Sheriff's Office Deputy, Chris Braman tells us, "It's nice to know that there's people out there thinking about us daily. We can have a stressful day at work, but then we also know that there's people at this school or in this community that's thinking about us and care for us."

Jerry Smith, a volunteer pilot with the Dale County Sheriff's Office said, "I mean the mission is always important, but community service is also important. It's a real important thing to let every body know that we're here for them."

For the kids, it's a day to learn.

For the first responders, it's a well-earned morning off.

Dothan Police Department's Student Resource Officer Supervisor, Clark Rice Says, "Your EMS services, including police, fire, even those that aren't such as the power crews, they're out here doing a lot of hard work trying to get everything back in a somewhat normal order."

And after lunch, they went back at it.

The school normally has more than 200 first responders, but many of them had to cancel because of the hurricane recovery work.