Pictured at Blue Friday Friends with Jan Dudley (far right) of House of Neighborly Service, clockwise, are Monroe County EMS personnel Ryan Weber, Geoff Vogel, Ryan Kaylor and Matt Hill, Monroe County Ambulance Director Carla Heise and Jessica Cutright of Monroe County EMS. (Sean McGowan photo)

House of Neighborly Service began a tradition of thanking the men and women who serve as this area’s first responders and law enforcement March 3 at the HNS office in Waterloo.

The program, “Blue Friday Friends,” will continue as a weekly event from 9 to 11 a.m. every Friday at 227B Main Street — next door to Bean Tree Cafe — in Waterloo. The program includes coffee, homemade treats and conversation for those who make protecting and serving the people of the community their priority.

“With the new office space so close to (the Waterloo Police Department), it was as easy as looking out our front door to see this opportunity to serve those who serve us all,” said HNS member Lisa Dean.

Jan Dudley of HNS said that between police, Waterloo Mayor Tom Smith, firefighters and EMS about 10 people showed up to the first week.

Monroe County Sheriff Neal Rohlfing was among those who attended and said HNS’ initiative constitutes another sign of the wonderful public support law enforcement receive in the area.

“It was good. It’s always nice to have that public support, and I truly believe we have 99 percent of the support here,” he said.

Dean agreed the program reflects HNS’ support of local law enforcement and first responders. In addition, HNS can use the BFF program to build a relationship with these heroes that will lead to HNS helping more people in the community.

“We want to collaborate with first responders when they find one of our citizens in a difficult situation, so we can be a source of help to those in need,” she said.

For more information on BFF and other services, call 939-8680. Dean said the program will hopefully counteract the portrayal in some mainstream media circles of a negative relationship between law enforcement and the public.

“Daily news reflects a barrage of tense relationships between so many groups of people,” she said. “And many of those are directed at (law enforcement), who mainly take a difficult career path that places them at the center of so much hurt in ordinary people’s lives.

“Each has taken an oath to serve and protect, and many times, they put their own lives in peril to help the ordinary person in an extraordinary situation.”