Police, seniors celebrate season during Walk with Cops Thanksgiving Party

It was vintage Rosemarie Conti before, during and even after last Thursday’s Johnston Police Department Walk with Cops Thanksgiving Party.

Conti, with the assistance of volunteers like Camie Corrente and Robin D’Alessio, created a unique and festive fall mood inside the Johnston Senior Center’s multi-purpose room for the police-sponsored celebration.

Each table top, for example, was adorned with little artifacts – many of which Conti made herself – such as mini-pumpkins, a watering pot with artificial flowers and fall decorations highlighted by decorative placemats that were at each of the many individual table settings

“It’s the little things that make it special,” Conti said while scooting from table to table, serving everything from coffee to pastry to mini-cupcakes to chilled fruit. “It’s important to give each of these events a theme. Today was obviously done with Thanksgiving in mind.”

Yet even more impressive, as several people observed, was “that the Johnston Police Department and the volunteers won’t let the senior citizens lift a finger. They serve them from the time until they arrive to when they leave.”

Take Police Chief Richard S. Tamburini, for example. Dressed in full uniform, he set out to help slice – and serve – the day’s signature cherry cheesecake.

Others taking part included Deputy Chief Dan Parrillo, Maj. Joe Razza and Capt. Thom Dolan, who heads up the department’s award-winning Explorer Post 405 program.

For inside of two hours, members of “Team Tamburini” went from table to table serving hot coffee and offering each and every attendee his or her choice of pastry, donuts, fruit, muffins, cheese, crackers and grapes.

This year’s Walk with Cops Thanksgiving Party also featured grape nut pudding, the second such homemade offering that senior center members Tibby Michelli made especially for last Thursday morning’s event.

“It was wonderful to see how happy everybody was enjoying themselves,” Conti offered while taking a brief moment to chat with volunteers like Chris Giardina, Corrente and D’Alessio who are mainstays at every Walk with Cops event. “Everyone did a great job, and we all get a special feeling when the seniors smile and enjoy their breakfast.”

There was also what Conti called “five silent servers” at last Thursday’s Walk with Cops Thanksgiving Party.

They were, as they’ve been through the years while assisting the award-winning program, Dunkin’ Donuts on Route 44 in Johnston, Brewed Awakenings, Cherry Hill Manor, The Bridge at Cherry Hill and Briarcliffe Manor.

Conti, meanwhile, is the coordinator for Walk with Cops, which is run out of the Community Policing Department. It’s also an award-winning program – the only one of its kind in Rhode Island for that matter – that Tamburini initiated when he took over as chief some 19 years ago.

“Our senior citizens love it,” Tamburini said of the Walk with Cops program, which begins in the spring with warmer weather, runs until early October, is held inside Johnston War Memorial Park and features police personnel walking around the grounds with attendees. “It’s a great way for the police personnel to connect with our senior citizens. After all, many times they are the eyes and ears of the community.”