Want to help Ukrainian police? Benton County, WA sheriff has several ways to do it
The Benton County sheriff and a longtime police officer are working together to help law enforcement in Ukraine.
The sheriff’s office has become the central hub for collecting items to help police officers struggling to aid people in the war-torn country.
They are offering Tri-Citians several ways to help including sending a monetary donation or items like bandages or, even, letters of support to embattled officers.
“Helping Ukraine police officers has zero to do with politics and everything to do with helping the brave officers holding the line in their Ukrainian communities,” Benton County Sheriff Tom Croskrey said Tuesday.
The effort was the work of Rudy Almeida, a retired Mabton police chief and Hanford Patrol captain. After 39 years in law enforcement, Almeida started working as an independent contractor with the federal Department of Justice. He taught people who trained officers about driving emergency vehicles.
He spent two years in the Ukraine and had returned to the Tri-Cities before Russian forces went into the country on Feb. 24. In his time there, he’s found the officers to be professional.
As he watched forces invade, Almeida talked to his wife about wanting to help his “Ukrainian brothers and sisters in blue,” he said in a Tuesday release.
So he reached out to Croskrey for help.
“When retired Chief Rudy Almeida called and said police officers in the Ukraine are calling for assistance, I felt compelled to respond,” the sheriff said. “I believe as a community, we all feel compelled to respond.”
How to help
The sheriff’s office is joining a nationwide effort being led by the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee.
The Benton County sheriff’s office is the state staging area for donations for Ukrainian officers. Officials are working with the Washington State Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and the Fraternal Order of Police to spread the word.
The sheriff’s office is giving people several ways to make donations, including North American Rescue Trauma Kits ($78.98) which include emergency items such as tourniquets, gloves and bandages.
Other items that can be purchased and donated include:
- Sealed gauze bandages
- Sealed elastic bandages
- Unopened Nitrile exam gloves
- New tourniquets
- New black winter socks
- New black winter hats
- New black winter gloves
- Store-bought jerky
- Power Bars
The items can be sent to Benton County Sheriff’s Office, Attn: Helping Ukraine, 7122 W. Okanogan Pl. #A120, Kennewick, WA 99336.
You also can buy the items online through an Amazon list. They are automatically sent to the Tennessee staging area, where they will be sorted and placed on pallets to be shipped to Ukraine.
Cargo flights are being arranged to transport donations to locations in Europe and then delivered to the National Police of Ukraine.
Financial donations must be made through the nonprofit memorial fund of the Washington State Fraternal Order of Police at bit.ly/HelpUkrainePolice.
They are also accepting checks at Washington State FOP, Attn: Ukraine Fund, 2839 W. Kennewick Ave. #356, Kennewick, WA 99336.
The Benton County Sheriffs Office cannot accept any checks, and they will have to be returned to the donor because the sheriffs office does not have a mechanism to receive those donations.
But you can send letters of support to Ukrainian police to the sheriff’s office at Benton County Sheriff’s Office, Attn: Helping Ukraine, 7122 W. Okanogan Pl. #A120, Kennewick, WA, 99336.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 6:28 PM.