Rolling Monkey Ice Cream and the Statesboro Police Foundation have partnered to bring the Caught Doing Good campaign back to Statesboro.
Rolling Monkey's aim with this initiative is to provide an ice cream experience as an opportunity to bridge the gap between youth in Statesboro and law enforcement. The program will help to bridge that gap by acting as a connection point for open dialogue, building a trusting foundation to then build a relationship, and acting as an incentive program for youth to make good choices.
In the beginning of 2020, Rolling Monkey founder, Garrett Clark, developed a strategy for Rolling Monkey to partner with the police force to empower our law enforcement officers to recognize the positive impact so many kids have in our community. Rolling Monkey would provide officers with free ice cream gift certificates each month. If an officer "caught" a citizen performing a good deed, they would give them the "citation," which was actually a gift certificate that appeared to be a citation.
Clark spoke with a few officers to confirm viability of his idea back then, and it appeared to be a hit with the community. But ultimately, with everything going on in 2020, Rolling Monkey wasn't able to allocate the time to see the program through then.
After the Statesboro Police Foundation Spirit Night at Rolling Monkey this May, Clark and his wife Meagan learned more about their mission, and the initiative was reignited.
"Thanks to the sponsorship of the Statesboro Police Foundation and board member, Brannen Smith, we can now say that citizens shouldn't be surprised if an officer gives them a citation in the form of a free ice cream if they're caught doing good," Meagan Clark said. "We can't wait to hear all about the Good Deeds the kids in our community are given a 'citation' for!"