By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
A group of charitable Yukon woman showed their support for the Yukon Police Department with a gift to help equip officers with personal protective gear.
YPD Deputy Chief John Brown and Maj. Zach Roberson recently accepted the contribution from members of the Frisco OHCE (Oklahoma Home and Community Education) group.
“We are an educational and charitable organization,” Frisco OHCE President Donna Jones said. “We had the idea that we’d like to donate to purchase protective gear for the police department.
“We have 12 members. Our members give to the organization and then we decide how to use our monies.”
Frisco OHCE’s treasury is boosted by members’ prize winnings at the annual Canadian County Free Fair.
Deputy Chief Brown and Maj. Roberson thanked the women for their generosity.
“It means so much to us when community groups like this support the Yukon Police Department,” Brown said. “We certainly appreciate these women for thinking of us.
“The funds will be put to good use in helping protect our officers.”
Other Yukon civic clubs, churches and individuals have contributed in recent years toward the purchase of protective vests – also called “body armor” – worn by on-duty YPD officers.
The Frisco group is part of OHCE, a statewide, county-based organization that partners with Oklahoma State University (OSU) Extension.
“There are six groups in Canadian County,” Jones said. “Frisco is the name of the group in Yukon.”
Local members seek to develop leadership skills and strengthen families in their respective communities.
Frisco OHCE members meet on Wednesdays at Spanish Cove Retirement Village’s Fiesta Room in Yukon.
The group’s president used to live on Frisco Road, on the old Frisco townsite.
“Our group was named Frisco because of the town and the street,” she pointed out. “People like Elizabeth Weller, Marie Kirkegard and Sara Nee Ball used to be in the group.”
3,200 MEMBERS
OHCE’s ultimate mission is to educate its members to be well-informed and able to handle change in their homes and communities.
The organization has 3,200 members with active groups in all of Oklahoma’s 77 counties.
“OSU works with us; they prepare lessons for our group and advisors,” Jones added.
The organization was formed in 1935, when local groups were called home demonstration clubs.
Early lessons dealt with food preservation, safe and healthy meal preparation, family relations, family finances, and children’s education – all of which remain incredibly relevant today.
OHCE groups across the state promote good nutrition, exercise, emotional well-being, anti-bullying, military support, financial well-being, literacy, and leadership development.
