'Fill the Squad Car', a friendly emergency services competition now in its second year, dropped off a figurative mountain of gently used or new winter clothing to John Howard Society (JHS) on Dec. 20, guaranteeing a warmer winter for Moose Jaw's less-fortunate residents.
The competition is between the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS), Medavie Health Services West emergency medical responders (Moose Jaw EMS), the Moose Jaw Fire Department (MJFD), and the Moose Jaw detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Each service reaches out to its community contacts and requests donations be dropped off at their respective locations. Items range from winter coats to toques, scarves, mittens, footwear, and more, in good condition or even new.
"Constable (Reggie) Pawliw (of the MJPS) organized the Fill the Squad Car campaign for the first time in 2022, and essentially I reached out to the same organizations that were involved last year and piggy-backed off how he first put it together," explained Constable Jayme Hoffman with the MJPS.
"It was such a success last year that we wanted to do it again, so we started collecting winter clothing donations on November 17, and the campaign ended yesterday on Dec. 20, so it went on for just over a month. ... I can't say for sure how many clothing items we collected, but each organizations collected a large amount to donate to the John Howard Society here in Moose Jaw, and the donations will then distributed to those in need."
Hoffman said it was a lot of fun and a great team effort by everyone involved, especially after dropping off the result to JHS. Employees at JHS are actively involved with people living rough on the street and know most of those individuals by name — that means the winter gear stands the best chance of going exactly where it is most desperately needed.
Each service did amazing work with local support, she said, but it was the RCMP who won out for the 2023 edition.
"It's a great way for us to help support the community," said Rod Ansell, a firefighter at the MJFD. "We had a truck full by the time we were done, but yeah, the RCMP just had a mountain, so when we brought it all together at the end, it was an even bigger mountain. It was really nice to see, and it's good to know it's all going to the people who know exactly where it should go."
"I thought we did really well, we had quite a few people from our community coming in, probably daily, to drop off some kind of warm clothing," said Corey McNeice, operations manager at Moose Jaw EMS. "We think we got even more donations than last year — and we won last year!
"It was absolutely amazing, instead of filling a squad car, there were so many donations between us, Moose Jaw fire, police, the RCMP, we actually filled a whole ambulance, the whole box of the patient compartment, corner to corner."
McNeice said JHS were a very deserving organization, noting that community medicine paramedics work closely with JHS and they know exactly what's happening on the streets.
Corporal Doug Lachapelle with the Moose Jaw RCMP said he and his fellow officers were able to reach out beyond Moose Jaw to all the surrounding Rural Municipalities that the force polices, and received an enthusiastic response.
"We sent a letter out to all our RMs asking for help and participation in gathering this winter clothing, and they really came through this year. Pretty much the majority of what we collected is from the outlying places around the city," Lachapelle explained. "We police everything outside the City of Moose Jaw, those are our constituents and our folks, so we can cast a bit of a wider net.
"We've got a really good crew here, and they always jump on board. In our jobs as police officers, we often see people kind of at their worst, but events like these let us help out and see people get better, too, right, and give back to these communities. A lot of the people that we deal with outside of Moose Jaw, in our areas, are also the same people police deal with in the city, as well, and John Howard Society is great throughout, they help a lot of folks.
"Thank you everyone who donated, we couldn't have done it without you, and big thanks to everyone from all the organizations that participated."
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