The birthday party for a 5-year-old Davenport, Iowa boy turned into one he’ll never forget when several officers from the Davenport Police Department accepted his invitation to attend.
Jackie Martin took to Facebook to share the story of her son, Brayden, and his love for police officers. According to Martin, he loves everything about them, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise when Brayden decided he wanted to have a police officer-themed birthday party this year.
Brayden personally delivered invitations to the police station in hopes of getting to see a squad car.
But what he got in return was so much more.
Over the course of the day, seven different officers made their way to Brayden’s party. Detective Donnie Pridemore even brought a pin-on badge with him and Brayden was pinned an official junior officer of the Davenport Police Department.
“They went above and beyond to make my son feel like part of the team and really made today so special and allowed us the opportunity to continue to show Brayden the importance of respecting the law and those who uphold it,” said Martin, “they may not wear capes but today, they were definitely the heroes.”
Check out the full post from Jackie:
"This is worth the read. HUGE shout out to the Davenport Police Department for making Braydens birthday party special! ?
A little back story…. Brayden LOVES police officers and everything about them, he wants to be one when he grows up! Every time he sees an officer out in public he asks us if he can thank them, so he walks up, shakes their hand and says “Thank you for protecting us” (and yes it is as heart melting as it sounds).
Well Brayden decided he wanted to have a police officer themed birthday party this year! When I got the invitations printed off he wanted to take one to the Police station and invite the officers. So Ryder and I took him downtown and let him deliver his invite, we thought maybe he could see their squad car or something if they had time (especially on a Saturday with how busy Davenport has been lately!) But what happened today was incredible!!
I got a call from a detective on Monday RSVPing, saying that he would be stopping by to see Brayden and would wear his uniform even though he didn’t usually wear it (but he thought brayden would like to see it, and he was right!) Little did I know he was going to make this the BEST birthday my little boy could have imagined! We decided to leave it a surprise for Brayden and didn’t tell him the detective was coming.
Detective Donnie Pridemore not only showed up in his uniform, but he came with gifts! Lots of gifts! But I don’t want to focus on that because it’s not about the things, even though they are beyond greatly appreciated and incredibly awesome! He even brought with him a pin on badge and thought that we should have a pinning ceremony for him in our living room (which I had to really hold back the tears for)! Brayden was pinned an official junior officer of the Davenport Police department ??! He said he couldn’t stay long but we convinced him to have something to eat and he thought it was the best choice to not pass up Ryders ribs!
Throughout the duration of Brayden’ s party he had 7 officers come visit him for his birthday, he got to look in a car and talked to each of them. He shook their hand and he thanked every single one of them, it was truly incredible. I feel like no matter how much I write I cannot put into words the amount of appreciation we have for them! They went above and beyond to make my son feel like part of the team and really made today so special and allowed us the opportunity to continue to show Brayden the importance of respecting the law and those who uphold it, and that they may not wear capes but today they were definitely the hero’s! Ironically enough we found out today was “Thank an Officer day”!
This is what it’s about, and I hope that on the bad days they remember today also. Today they made a difference. Today they impacted a life/lives. Today they made a boy, if only a 5 year old, look at them with a twinkle in his eye of admiration. In a world that seems to be turning their back on law enforcement, they are STILL making an impact! We back the blue in this house. We have your 6, because today you had mine! I’m the coolest mom (today) because of the Davenport Police department.
Thank you each so much, The Martins
Please join me in showing appreciation and share this! They deserve all of it! Hey, maybe we can even get them to Ellen DeGeneres!”
