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Blessings for Badges feeds first responders on Thanksgiving

Nearly 200 volunteers deliver 1,100 meals in Kent, Sussex
Board and committee members with Blessings for Badges are (l-r) Joe Baumann, treasurer; Cindi Susi, president; Sharon Taylor, board of directors; Mary Curtis, committee member; and Louis Briggs, Delaware State Police committee member. DAN COOK PHOTOS
Dan Cook
December 1, 2025

As families got together for a hot meal on Thanksgiving, many first responders and police officers were on duty to keep communities safe. Blessings for Badges responds to the call to distribute a hot turkey meal with all the trimmings on Thanksgiving Day. 

In 2018, Cindi Susi founded Blessings for Badges, an all-volunteer group that feeds Thanksgiving meals to first responders in Sussex and Kent counties.  

This year, nearly 200 volunteers in Kent and Sussex put together and delivered 1,100 meals to the men and women of the Delaware State Police, all town and city police departments, paramedics, EMT/firefighters, dispatch personnel and correctional officers who were on duty Thanksgiving Day.

“Our event went off wonderfully, and we had many volunteers who stepped in to help make our event a success,” said Susi. “We are grateful for all the help, and we are even more grateful for all the first responders who put their lives on the line to help keep our community safe.”

For more information about Blessings for Badges, go to its Facebook page or send a donation to Blessings for Badges, P.O. Box 1041, Millsboro, DE 19966.

 

The cornbread queens of the volunteer group are Nicole, left, and Jeanne DiAmico.
Kinley Streett, left, and Lucy Taylor write the type of pie in the dessert package as Stacie Baker Streett looks on.
Daniel Cox, left, and Melanie Griego fill the cranberry sauce cups.
Brian Murray, left, is gloved up and ready to carve the turkeys.
Randy Ellis displays the delicious pies used for the dessert packages.
Volunteer Lou DiAmico carves the turkey.
Rachel Platt attaches Happy Thanksgiving notes that were made by the Cypress Hearts & Hands 4-H Club led by Jodie Gravenor.
Jeff and Maria Brice work together to build boxes donated by Mountaire.
Badges for Blessings Secretary Cathy Bassett, left, stands with President Cindi Susi.
Daniel Cox loads up a box of cranberry sauce cups.
Crysti Davis helps to make the bread and butter bags.
Tony Susi, left, and Sharon Taylor read the cute notes made by the Cypress Hearts & Hands 4-H Club.
Millsboro Mayor Bob McKee, left, and his wife Maureen fill a cranberry sauce box.
Makenna Cooper carries the boxes to be stocked with a turkey meal for first responders.
Millsboro Mayor Bob McKee, right, and his wife Maureen work at the cranberry sauce table.
Sussex Central student Natalie Briggs takes a break from constructing boxes for the meals.
Cramelle Mumford stacks the dessert packages.
Blessings for Badges President and founder Cindi Susi stacks the bread and butter packages.

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Dan has worked for the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years as a photographer and reporter, covering high school sports and happenings around eastern Sussex County. He won a photography award from the National Newspaper Association, and numerous awards from the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association. A Delaware native, Dan graduated from Cape in 1972 and returned as a teacher and coach in the 1980s. He retired from the classroom in 2016. He was inducted into Cape High’s Legends Stadium in 2016. In his spare time, Dan enjoys spending time with his wife, two sons, grandchildren and dogs. 

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