Madison emergency personnel get treated to cookout

Fire fighters from the Madison Fire Department pose with volunteers from Discovery Middle School cheerleading, Good Samaritan Hospice and other local organizations at the recent cookout. (Record Photo/Nick Sellers)

By Nick Sellers | Staff Reporter

MADISON – On July 11, a couple of elder care service representatives, Discovery Middle School cheerleaders and other volunteers from the area came together to show appreciation for Madison firefighters, police officers and EMTs in the form of hamburgers and hot dogs.

Jim Pride, director of community relations for Good Samaritan Hospice, attested to the giving spirit displayed at the cookout.

“We organized this just as a way to kind of say thank you to the police officers and the firefighters who take care of us all during the year,” Pride said. “This is our first, but we’re hoping to make it an annual event.”

Visiting Angels, a home care service located on Highway 72, also helped organize the event, which was held in the parking lot of Good Samaritan Hospice.

“We’ve had a lot of people from the community really pitch in to help, so we’re just really thankful for what these men and women do for us and just trying to show some appreciation,” Pride said.

Cheerleaders from Discovery Middle School helped distribute all food materials to the emergency personnel that attended. The girls also created goodie bags and made root beer floats for the attendees.

“The girls came to support the firefighters, obviously, and then they’ve been passing out food and just kind of been trying to support them,” said Emily Parker, head cheerleading coach at Discovery Middle School.

The event saw many police officers arrive in the earlier part of the cookout, around 11 a.m., while one of the department’s fire trucks made an appearance with more than a dozen fire fighters around noon.