Collierville’s Citizen Volunteer Patrol (CVP) marks 30 years of serving the community this year. This special program that lends numerous helping hands and whatever else is needed to the Collierville Police Department has had dozens of members over the years and every one of them has been appreciated by the CPD and by the community. The group has also had a few name changes since ‘93: from “Senior Citizens Volunteer Program” to “Special Citizens Volunteer Program” to “Citizen Volunteer Program”.
The name may have changed, but the program’s purpose has remained the same over the years: to assist the Collierville Police Department by performing public safety duties that don’t require enforcement, therefore helping Collierville as a community with “duties” that become passions for the long term CVP members. Delivering food and prescriptions to homebound citizens, and meals to families in need are two of the items on the duty list that make being a CVP officer a fulfilling way to spend one’s retirement or free time. Other duties include vacation checks on homes, traffic duty at special community events, filling in for school crossing guards, neighborhood watch, transporting police vehicles and equipment that need repair, and clerical work in the CPD office.
The CVP officers have their own uniforms, their own cars, and typically volunteer enough hours to equate the salary of 4 full-time officers. The ones who stick with the program for several years also develop a bond that brings them together for things like former member Ken Lewis’s 100th birthday. Last July, the group visited Lewis at the retirement home where he lives and gifted him with a huge card signed by the CVP and Collierville Police Department staff, as well as a frame containing his CVP patches and badge. He gifted them with stories about serving in WWII, and eventually talk turned to the early days of the volunteer program and how he got involved.
“Bob White was responsible for me joining,” said Lewis. “We had moved to Collierville and I was out mowing the lawn when Bob White drove up and said, ‘We need you’. I was ordering my uniform the next day.”
Bob White was an original CVP member who passed away in March of 2014. Lewis retired from the CVP in 2007 at the age of 85 because he was told that was the last year he could serve; at last year’s birthday visit, he discovered that former CVP member Gerald Henson had persisted in the organization until he was 93! Henson retired from the CVP in 2021, having been one of the original members of the organization and serving for 24 years. (As we were preparing this article, we found out that Gerald Henson passed away on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. Rest in Peace, Mr. Henson, and thank you for your service to the Town.)
Both men and women are welcome to serve with the Citizen Volunteer Patrol, and you don’t have to be retired to be one of the group. You just have to be willing to serve 16 hours per month, able to perform the list of tasks described above, and open to making some new friends who are of a “helping” mindset.
Over the next few months we will be highlighting the CVP in different ways to share what services they provide for our residents along with showing our appreciation for all they do for our community.
