By Joe Bachman
Multimedia Editor

STEVENS POINT — Members of the 2018 Portage County Citizens Academy have donated $475 to the Guns N’ Hoses organization.

Members did this in an effort to show appreciate to Portage County, Stevens Point, and Plover police, fire, and EMS. for their time during the academy. As a result, their donation will benefit local veterans.

Guns N’ Hoses raises money annual for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight, which is a non-profit organization of volunteers who fly veterans out to Washington D.C. to visit their memorials.

“We wanted to figure out a way where we could thank the police officers, the firefighters, the EMS workers for all the time they had put into it.” said 2018 Citizens Academy member Brittany Pepowski. “We wanted them to feel really appreciated.”

The initial plan was to give food to all members of Portage County, Plover, and Stevens Point police, fire and EMS, but the mere numbers of mouths to feed in that scenario became a little daunting. The group came to the decision to instead donate a sum of money towards the annual Guns N’ Hoses charity softball game.

“Just as a way for us to say ‘thank you’ for the opportunity that we’ve been given and to say that we appreciate all that they do for our community.” said Pepowski.

“It’s really a great experience where you can get into the lives of firefighters, police officers; and see what their training tactics are — and what it takes to be on their end of the job.” she added.

The citizens’ academy runs every Thursday from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. with an occasional Saturday training. The academy begins September 5, 2019 and will conclude with a graduation on November 14, 2019.

If interested, citizens are promoted to contact Lt. Ryan Fox, Plover Police Department, at [email protected], by August 1, 2019. All applicants will be subject to a background and criminal history check to ensure the integrity of the program.

For more information, please contact Lt. Fox with any questions at (715) 345-5255 ext. 157.