By Andy Furman
The Point/Arc
The Point/Arc of Covington is taking on The Big Blue. No – not the University of Kentucky – the real Big Blue.
Covington’s Best – their police and detective units.
“We’ve been challenged,” says Covington Sgt. Rachel White, “and we’re responding.”
Sgt. White, a five-and-a-half-year member of the Covington unit, who also serves as the Community Liaison, says her group is ready to perform.
Covington Police Sgt. Rachel White
The Covington Cops will take on the best of The Point/Arc’s clients in kickball Tuesday, July 11 at the Griffin Elite Sports and Wellness Complex (700 Dolwick Drive, Erlanger) at 6 p.m.
The re-match is already set – this time in a more relaxed setting – Bingo.
The Bingo portion of the doubleheader is set for Wednesday, July 19 at The Point/Arc’s Zembrodt Education Center (ZEC) 104 West Pike Street, Covington, 6 p.m.
The relationship between the Covington Police Department and The Point/Arc is for fun – and strange as it may sound, it all began through a business deal.
“We used The Point/Arc’s apparel shop to print T-shirts for our FOP golf outing,” Sgt. White, a Morehead native, who moved to Northern Kentucky seven years ago, said.
“Leslie (Vickers) reached out to us, and a kickball challenge sounded exciting,” White said.
Vickers is the VP/Enterprises for The Point/Arc.
The apparel shop is one of several The Point/Arc operates – The Commercial Laundry, Cleaning Company, The Point Perk Coffee Shop, and the recently-opened pretzel company.
White said she already has five officers set for the kickball competition.
“Being in Erlanger, at that time and during vacation periods it makes it hard to get volunteers for events,” she said.
“This sounds like a loser’s excuse to me already,” said Vickers, starting the smack-talk early.
Yet, White did say her unit and the Covington Police Department try to get involved with multiple events.
“In a year,” she said, “we will do some 10-or-more. In fact, we have even created The Covington Police Department Bookworms for youngsters to get involved and improve reading skills and habits.”
As the Community Liaison, White says she tries to see beyond community and police work.
“We’re always trying to build relationships with the Covington Police and FOP and the community,” she said. “We’re here to do more than just police work.”
Their immediate task at hand – to try and defeat The Point/Arc in kickball on July 11.
The Point/Arc was founded in 1972 by a group of parents fighting for the educational rights of their children, who were diagnosed with an intellectual and developmental (I/DD) disability. The mission – to help people with disabilities achieve their highest potential educationally, socially, residentially, and vocationally. More than this, The Point/Arc has been an organization that identifies gaps in services and provides care and support to fill these gaps – even when government funding sources are not available.
