Deputy
Sheriff Becky Bacon had identified a lonely and uncertain camper during
the camp’s first day. She tried repeatedly to approach him – to talk
with him – to listen to him – without success. The final night
of each camp week includes a camp fire that is an opportunity for the
camp – kids, counselors and deputy sheriffs - to open up and share
their emotions, their camp experience and talk of their new friends.
The young boy who Becky had been trying so hard to reach too sheepishly
came over and asked if he could sit with her at the campfire. A few
minutes later he asked her if he could sit on her lap. She pulled her
arms around him holding him tight. He fell asleep watching the campfire.
“He
didn’t tell me much about himself during the week and he refused to
talk to me,” Deputy Bacon recalled of her first week at the Sheriffs’
Camp. “After the campfire, I didn’t know who got more out of camp him
or me.”
Sergeant
Rebecca Bacon works for the Schuyler County Sheriff’s Office and since
that first week has been extremely active in the camp culture. She has
a wonderful ability to identify kids who need someone to talk to and
believe in.
This magic
contribution Becky makes was highlighted one night when she received a
phone call at her home from the Sheriff’s Emergency Communications
Center. She was needed to help with a domestic case that was evolving.
The victim would only talk with Deputy Bacon. When she arrived on the
scene, she found a young girl who she knew from the Sheriffs’ Camp. The
victim said she’d talk with only Becky because she felt comfortable
with her and trusted her.
“I
was able to help and I have helped her since,” said Deputy Bacon, as
she silently recalled what she had learned during her first time at
camp by the campfire. |
