By Mark Woolsey

Months after its start, the Marietta Police Foundation (MPF) is poised to move full steam ahead, after a period of building behind the scenes.

 The non-profit’s genesis was the realization that all other cities and governmental entities surrounding Marietta had foundations in place to aid their police departments and individual officers, but Marietta lacked one.

“We were dumbfounded,” said Jody Traylor, a Marietta resident and a co-founder along with the group’s president  Duane Sherman. She says she and a friend began providing aid to police, including a fundraiser and food donations, after the September 2022 killing of two Cobb Sheriff’s deputies who were cut down while serving a warrant.

“It just made sense to put this together to help them on a larger scale, “ she says, saying Marietta police contacted her based on her past work, then she and Sherman connected and moved ahead.

She says MPF held its first major fundraiser in February at Marietta Wine Market and just recently finished assembling its seven-member board, which consists of community activists and a former Marietta police officer.

That fundraiser brought in $15,000  last month. A total of $85,000 is on hand to date and  2025’s goal is $100,000, she says.

And Traylor says that money will be put to good use in a variety of ways.

“Our main mission is to support them(officers) in times of crisis, so if an officer is injured or worse, we kind of pick up the slack before insurance or something else would kick in.”

In addition to direct financial help to injured officers and aid to the families of officers who are killed, the foundation will seek other avenues to help.

(We want to) “fill their (officers’) needs when the city may not be able to, certain purchases like they need a new computer or a new vest, something that’s not quite in the budget but would be very valuable to them,” says Traylor.

She says they’ll also help officers and the department cover the cost of out-of-state training and will continue the behind-the-scenes work of providing meals and snacks to officers- something Traylor says is a major morale builder.

Traylor says the group has already provided financial help to a new officer in the department in its first months of existence.

The foundation staged a ribbon cutting March 18 at police headquarters (it does not have a physical location) at the suggestion of the Marietta Business Association, which the foundation had recently joined.

MPF says they’re in the thick of planning for future fundraisers, including a golf tournament tentatively set for October.

“We’re excited now that we have our board members,” says Traylor. ”Everyone is involved and it’s going to be something really great.”

More information or to donate: https://Mariettapolicefoundation.org