While Carnival crowds fill downtown Mobile’s streets, a group of restaurant owners is making sure the police officers keeping those streets safe don’t go hungry.
The effort, known as “Operation Feed the Cops,” delivers meals to Mobile police officers throughout Joe Cain Day — one of the busiest stretches of the Mardi Gras season. On Fat Tuesday, officers will get to meet the organizers and pick up their meals inside the temple downtown.
Now in Its Second Year
The program started just last year, and it has grown from a simple observation: during Mardi Gras, Mobile officers spend long days on their feet with little chance for a real break.
Tony Sawyer, owner of Bob’s Downtown Restaurant and one of the participating business owners, said feeding officers through the grind of Carnival season is about more than a meal.
“It’s important to us that we give back to our community, that we give back to the men and women of Mobile during Mardi Gras when they’re working 18, 20 hours a day with very little rest, seven days a week,” Sawyer said. “We just got to make sure that they get fed.”
Sawyer said supporting the people who keep the city’s streets safe, day in and day out, is part of what keeps the community strong.