Baldwin Park Police Dispatchers Delivers Hope to Kids

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When they are not busy answering emergency calls they get busy with their hands.

For several months, Erin Lindsey and Nidia Mercado, two dispatchers from the (BPPD) have started to knit hats and scarves with their own hands to cancer patients. 

They practically don't want to serve their community just by phone. Now in addition to providing assistance to emergency callers, they want to bring warmth and hope to the children cancer ward at Mira Loma Hospital.

Using their time off during shifts or their own personal time, the two have successfully made almost a hundred hats and scarves that will be donated soon to kids in need.

"We believe it is just great that employees take this initiative," said Lt. David Reynoso of the Baldwin Park Police. "Doing something for the community and for kids in need is great."

And while the hats and scarves won't have the police logo, the seal of all employees will be embedded in those articles intended to warmth the children that lost their hair from chemotherapy.

The material they used has been donated by several employees of the BPPD, inspired by the work of the two dispatchers.

Bot of them are sure that kids will feel great after receiving a scarf or a hat to warm their bald heads.

But in addition to the good feeling of helping kids, knitting the hats and scarves has also been a relaxation therapy for this two.

Here they are used to listen emergencies calls, domestic disputes over the phone and even crime that happens in the city.

"There are times it's crazy with so many calls here and then stops," said Mercado. "And when its not busy, then we get busy with our hands."

Lindsey said they started doing it just for friends and family members but then they saw the idea of donating them to people in need.

"It's good to know that you are giving something to someone in need," said Lindsey. "To be able to do something even small is just great."