Mount Pleasant Magazine Documenting Covid-19

79 www.CoronavirusMag.com | www.ReadMPM.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com feature to Miriam Brown Community Center, maybe the kids in Snowden might not get food because their parents weren’t available to drive them there. The children in those areas would text the SROs, who would load up their police cars with food to take to them.” The SROs also helped continue a Police Department tradition started several years ago. When social distancing wasn’t an issue, an officer read to elementary school kids at the local Barnes & Noble store every third Saturday. Once that became impossible, the Department went virtual, reading to children on Facebook seven days a week. Ritchie took his turn first, and the SROs handled the job after that. As if the SROs weren’t busy enough, they stepped up to the plate for one more important task. Several Pinckney Elementary School teachers, missing the interaction with their young students, asked if they could participate in a “teacher parade” through neighborhoods in Park West and Dunes West. With Police cars leading the vehicular caravan, the kids were able to wave to their teachers as they “paraded” past. The Police Department didn’t forget about the town’s older population during the pandemic. Continuing a program launched a few years prior by Ritchie, the Department gathered information about any illnesses or medications from relatives of senior citizens and installed a “Knox Box” over the door frame that contained a key to the home. The box can be opened only by a Mount Pleasant fireman or policeman. “All too often, we would get a call from a loved one who hadn’t heard from them in several days. We might have ended up kicking the door in or breaking a window,” said Ritchie, who noted that by April 2020, around 80 senior citizens had a Knox Box. The chief added that his officers regularly check on all senior citizens in the Knox Box program, as well as on everyone receiving services from Meals on Wheels, which, during the pandemic, was forced to cut back to making deliveries only once every two weeks. “They were used to having someone come by every day. We didn’t want them to be isolated without some type of contact,” Ritchie said. Mount Pleasant Police Chief Carl Ritchie reads to kids at the local Barnes & Noble store. Once the pandemic spread to Mount Pleasant, officers continued the tradition on Facebook. Where European Chic Meets Southern Style 843 - 352 - 7042 616 D Long Point Road Mt Pleasant, SC 29464 Your destination for unique tabletop, linens, home accents, personal accessories and gifts. You can now shop online! Shipping and store pick up available. www.lavenderhilldesigns.com As a small business, we thank you for your continued support and patronage!