'Brave Bags' Donated To Morris Plains Police

MORRIS PLAINS, NJ — Residents from the Matheny Medical and Education Center created "brave bags" to donate to the Morris Plains Police Department to help comfort children during emergency situations.

Adult residents at Matheny, a hospital for children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities, worked to make the bags as part of pre-vocational training. Deanna Willard, Life Skills Coordinator, and Nicole Araujo, Peapack Program Coordinator, came up from the "brave bags" as an extension of the police's existing practice of handing out teddy bears to children.

Several police departments in the county have received the bags, including Morris Plains, Washington, and Parsippany.

The bags typically include crayons, a coloring book, bubbles, bouncy ball, and small game/toy in the small bag that officers could keep with them in the trunk of their police cruisers. Items in the bag are targeted for children between two and ten years old. The bags themselves are brightly decorated, and were colored and designed by the residents themselves.

In recognition of their efforts, Matheny residents were given a certificate of appreciation from police, and a proclamation and a key to the Borough by the Mayor.