Boy Delivers Special Gifts To Police To Show Appreciation
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (CBS4) – A 7-year-old boy is bringing comfort to police officers who put their lives on the line to protect citizens in Colorado.
Landon Silver, who just finished the first grade, wanted to do something special for his local police department after he learned of the fatal officer shootings in Dallas.
"We were having breakfast and the news was on, and he heard about Dallas, and he almost instantly came over and wanted to do something for the police," said Lindsey Silver, Landon's mother.
Landon had recently learned how to sew, and decided to make neck pads to ease the pain on officers' muscles and on their minds.
He worked for 10 hours over several days to warm their hearts and their shoulders.
After sewing the fabric into long pouches, Landon filled them with rice and added in drops of lavender essential oil.
"It's supposed to help you calm down," Landon said, of the lavender fragrance.
The homemade neck warmers can be warmed in winter and chilled in summer.
After completing 20 of them, Landon personally delivered the special gifts with handwritten messages of support to the officers who serve and protect him.
"It brought tears to my eyes," said Robert Thomas, a commander with the Commerce City Police Department.
Thomas said that Landon's gesture was a much-needed show of compassion.
"Because of all that has taken place within the law enforcement community, officers being killed in the line of duty. It just showed me his appreciation for law enforcement and for police officers," said Thomas. "He lifted our spirits."
"It felt pretty good," said Landon with a smile.
His mom said that she also felt touched by officers' reactions.
"They were just blown away by it," Silver said. "So it was pretty cool to see my son doing that."
Before Landon left the police department, officers gave him some tokens of their own appreciation. With pride, Landon showed CBS4's Melissa Garcia the Chief pin, SWAT patch, and challenge coin that he took home.
He said that he hopes to become a police officer himself someday.
"I think they're pretty cool," Landon said, of police officers.
Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.
