Sheriff Massee invites everybody out this Friday afternoon to Faith & Blue event

The goal is simple, according to Bruce Vaughn.

"We just want to bring together our law enforcement community, our faith-based community and our citizens," he said. "When you bring these three groups together, most communities thrive."

Vaughn, the c0-organizer of this Friday afternoon's "Faith & Blue" event in Milledgeville, encouraged everyone around Milledgeville-Baldwin County to come on out. The event is all set for 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the new Carrington Woods government annex parking lot.

There will be an inflatable slide and a bounce house donated by Happy Times Party Rentals, food on the grill, live music, a coat giveaway for the kids, a blood drive and much more, including free event tee shirts for the first 200 people. 

Volunteers with Chard Wray food pantry also will be on hand for those who want to drop off food items. The food pantry currently is in need of dry beans, dry rice, pasta, spaghetti sauce, canned vegetables and canned fruit.

Sheriff Bill Massee echoed Vaughn's sentiments.

"It's a great initiative. It really is. Our department looks at it as a community-relations event, and we want to meet as many people as possible," the sheriff said. "I'm looking forward to a great turnout."

Faith & Blue is a nationwide initiative, ACCORDING TO ITS WEBSITE, and its mission is to "facilitate safer and stronger communities by engaging law enforcement officers and local residents through the connections of faith-based organizations." The first Faith & Blue event was held last October at First United Methodist Church, and organizers this year decided to move it to a more central location in order to spur an even larger turnout.

CLICK HERE to meet the Williams "family"

Added the website:"National Faith & Blue Weekend is an extension of the One Congregation One Precinct initiative (OneCOP), a program of MovementForward, Inc., which is a bridge-building, solutions-focused human and civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. The OneCOP initiative pairs together officers at the beat or precinct level with local faith-based organizations.