For the third year in a row, the Salt River Police Department is running the No-Shave November campaign to raise funds for the Salt River Community Children’s Foundation.

Some officers and other SRPD staff are letting their facial hair grow out during November. To continue the event, next up will be “Double Down December” and possibly “Just Keep It January,” due to the popularity of no-shave campaigns.

So far this year there has been an excellent turnout for the event. A current tally of the funds raised was not released as of November 20, but the SRPD previously raised around $7,000 from the event, which was directed to the SRCCF and the Kickball with the Cops program.

SRPD was looking to create events and opportunities to reach out and contact the children within the Community in a fun setting, according to SRPD Community-based Policing and Public Information Officer Joseph Orozco.

“This event is an outlet for our officers to be able to help fund events like Kickball with the Cops, where our officers get to hang out with the kids in a fun setting and it gives them a regenerative focus on what matters most,” said Off. Orozco. “As you can imagine, our officers have to deal with many challenges within the career of law enforcement. To be able to assist the SRCCF in connecting with and assisting the children of the Community while simultaneously allowing our officers to ‘recharge their batteries’ in a sense, it’s truly a gift for us to help give back.”

In 2019, the SRCCF invited SRPD to a lunch where some of the youth who received funding assistance from the No-Shave events explained how they were positively impacted by the program.

SRPD also has a GoFundMe campaign set up for the cause, which can be found on the SRPD Facebook page.