MADISON, Wis. — More than 100 Madison families are celebrating Thanksgiving festivities thanks to some brothers and sisters in blue, a generous community gift and a local grocer supporting a meal with all the fixings. 

What You Need To Know

  • 400+ individuals fed by MPD Cares, Metcalfe Grocers and several other non-profits
  • MPD Officers packed food and took to homes in need
  • Metcalfe's ensured supply chain issues wouldn't impact the program by planning months in advance
 
Madison police officer Howard Payne and Marcus Robbins know how much this mission, now in its second year, matters. The duo personally is taking about a dozen birds and the sides to underprivileged homes.

"Food is a common denominator," Payne said. "It can help deal with a lot of divisive issues of between or among people. And this is another example of doing just that," he added.

More than 400 people are all fed due to a collaboration with MPD Cares, Metcalfe's, the Madison Community Policing Foundation (MCPF), 100 Black Men of Madison, Amigos en Azul (Friends in Blue), Madison Professional Police Officer Association (MPPOA) and the Madison Black Officer Coalition.

"I hope it bridges a lot of gaps that we've seen over the years and we can see how to continue to do what we can to make things better for other people," Payne said about why he appreciates the program that shows off peacekeeper kindness.

Grocer Tim Metcalfe was pleased his store could participate again. He said he began stockpiling supplies for the event months in advance. He said if they hadn't, there would have been a real concern for the smaller turkeys this year.

"I think we are sold out of the smaller birds,  so we segregated these just for these guys, we have the larger birds but the families because of COVID are a little more condensed, so the smaller birds are going faster," Metcalfe said. "We had some segregated for these guys, so we are able to feed these families."

Officers didn’t just distribute the food, but also packed each brown bag with brand new puzzles for families to play over the long holiday week.