Hall County Sheriff’s Office Community Service Officer Chuck Poteet is always looking for ways for the department to better serve the community, and when he found the Gwinnett County-based nonprofit organization called Adventure Bags, it was a partnership waiting to happen.
Located about ten minutes away from the Sheriff’s Office South Precinct, Adventure Bags provides backpacks to organizations that work with displaced children.
“I looked at them and thought I recognized a name, and I contacted my mom ,” Poteet said. “One of the women she goes to church with is involved with this group. It’s a group of women that seek donations from all over the place. They put together these bags. I think the week that I went out there, they shipped about 560 of these bags out to different parts of the state.”
The bags are packed for both girls and boys and divided into four age groups between infant and 18, according to Poteet. Items range from the fun, such as a stuffed animal, ball or coloring book, to the essential, like hygiene products, blankets and clothing.
Adventure Bags recently donated 40 backpacks to the Sheriff’s Office. Poteet divided them up among the North and South Precincts and Headquarters facilities.
Uniform Patrol Division deputies who come into contact with children in crisis on their shifts can contact their on-duty watch commanders to obtain bags.
While moving bags into the headquarters on Thursday, March 21, Poteet said he hoped the first bags for the agency were just the beginning.
“They’ve (Adventure Bags) assured me that we’ll be able to replenish these stocks as we use them.”
According to its website, Adventure Bags delivered 8,425 bags last year with organizers excited about prospects for 2019. The sentiment was also excitement for Poteet, both for the children deputies can serve with the donation and for the work of individuals at Adventure Bags.
“Nothing in these bags is used," added Sheriff Gerald Couch. "The bags are new, and every item inside the bags is new. They (Adventure Bags) want the kids to feel like they’re not getting hand-me-downs. They’re (children) still important, and they’re getting new stuff. It’s not much, but when you have to leave your house after a fire or you’re separated from your family and you don’t have a toothbrush, all of those things can make you depressed.”
