MIDLAND, Texas — Mt. Moriah Church in Midland hosted its 12th annual Police Kids BBQ event Saturday.
This gathering featured a bouncy house, face painting, food and even backpacks filled with schools supplies handed out by officers.
Pastor Dennis Hodge, Sr., has been running this event and added law enforcement to it five years ago. Hodge says he used to run away from the police when he was younger, but now wants to bring the community and the police together.
"Just come over and try to build a relationship between the community and the law enforcement officers, where our children will not have to be afraid of the law enforcement officers, but also respect them. And also that our law enforcement, instead of just coming over here and making arrests all the time, that they can build a relationship with the community," Pastor Hodge said.
During the event, the church gave away about 400 backpacks filled with school supplies, and plans to give more and more away every year.