Grassroots effort aims to show law enforcement officers they aren’t alone; dozens contribute to goodie bags, prayer boxes at local precincts

LIVONIA — Mary Morasso had a simple idea to show God’s love to others, and she made it happen in a big way. 

In April, Morasso, a parishioner at SS. Cyril and Methodius (Slovak) Parish in Sterling Heights, was growing distressed at the division she perceived in society regarding law enforcement officers. 

Morasso said she noticed a growing negativity toward men and women in uniform, most of whom are trying to do the right thing, she said. 

“I feel badly for our police officers. I’m grateful for them,” Morasso said. “We can be against racism as well as support our police officers, who do a lot for us and most of whom are good men and women.”

Within a few weeks, she and a friend had mobilized dozens of Catholic families, neighbors, friends and co-workers. Some made homemade cards. Some donated money for supplies. Others helped stuff goodie bags — 400 in all — which were delivered to five local police departments. 

The packages were given to patrol officers and included cookies, cards, a craft, and a keychain with a medal of St. Michael the Archangel, the patron saint of police officers. The other side of the medal depicts a guardian angel. 

Morasso was raised in a family of 14 children. Her parents made service part of their family culture. Her father focused on serving the poor, taking the family to soup kitchens and to Nicaragua for mission trips. Her mother was a pro-life warrior, organizing monthly prayer vigils outside abortion clinics.

“I think we can be overwhelmed thinking we have to make a huge commitment to serve. I learned growing up that we don’t need to change the world, we just need to be kind and be aware of the needs of those around us,” Morasso said. “Many of us might not have a lot of money to give, but giving of our time and talent is just as valuable.”

Morasso, her mother and volunteers delivered the goodie bags to area police departments with co-organizer Jean Motta. The two became friends through a Facebook group for Detroit-area Catholic moms. When Morasso came up with the idea for the “Support Our Police Service Project,” she reached out to Motta, whose husband is a police officer.

“I had helped with another service project Mary did around Valentine’s Day,” Motta said. “I’m not so good at organizing, but I’ll do crafts all day long.”

Mary Wilkerson saw Morasso’s call for help with the effort on social media. As a homeschooling mom who was busy wrapping up the school year, Wilkerson knew she couldn’t give much time, but she and her five children could make 50 cards. She also offered to put a message on her own social media to request donations to purchase cookies and medals. Wilkerson, a local Catholic speaker and podcaster, is active on Facebook and Instagram with many followers. 

Within a few days, about 40 of Wilkerson’s social media friends and family had donated $1,754. 

“People like being able to do concrete things to help, and this was a way they could do it,” Wilkerson said. “I was encouraged by the response because social media can be such a negative place. But when you put it out there, you see how many people want to participate in something like this.”

In addition to goodie bags, volunteers also left a prayer box at each police station, with a note inviting police officers and department staff to write down their prayer intentions and put them in the box. A week later, Morasso picked up the boxes, and the intentions are now included in the prayers of those involved in the project.

“I think the prayer box is a really important part of this,” Motta said. “The law can only go so far and the rest we have to give to God. Even if not for their personal intentions, they can include prayers for the people they serve — the people who might be in dire straits with no one in their life to pray for them.”

Motta and her two children pray to St. Michael the Archangel every day to intercede for protection for her husband while he’s working. 

“The St. Michael medal is on my husband every day, right along with that Kevlar vest,” Motta said. “St. Michael is a great protector, a warrior. What better patron to be with our men and women in blue?”

Wilkerson’s brother is also a police officer.

“I know from him and his friends in law enforcement that they have felt very unsupported this year,” Wilkerson said. “Every day when my brother goes to work, he doesn’t know if he’s going to come home alive. That’s just part of his job. It’s sad that we’ve gotten to the place where we people feel they can’t even vocally support them because it’s become political.”

Wilkerson mentioned the project to her brother but did not share details, or the fact that his precinct would be one to receive goodie bags. When he opened his, he texted her a picture of the card in his bag and asked if she knew the family so he could thank them. The small gesture “meant the world to him” and his fellow police officers, according to Wilkerson.

Morasso plans to continue spearheading similar efforts as the Holy Spirit puts them on her heart. She has a few ideas in mind, but for now, she focuses on those prayer intentions instead.

“At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, ‘Go therefore and make disciples.’ As Catholics, that is our challenge,” Wilkerson said. “We get strengthened within the walls of our parishes with Eucharistic adoration and worship and sacraments, but it’s not supposed to stay there. We’re supposed to go out and share that with others.”

She continues, “The more things we do like this, the more the world will see us as joyful missionary disciples — going out and, hopefully, making disciples just by loving. This is a little seed that’s been dropped, and I hope the police officers who opened these bags will have a positive experience knowing that the Church thought about them and prayed for them.”