By Richard L. Gaw

Staff Writer

Several weeks ago, Southern Chester County Regional Police Department Chief Gerald Simpson donated a considerable amount of lumber to the Elkton High School's Construction and Technology Program, which his friend, 16-year-old sophomore Kris Sweringen, belongs to.

Simpson had little idea what those pieces of wood would soon come to represent.

Sweringen then asked his friend Matthew Boyle, an 18-year-old senior at Elkton High School, to help him pick up the lumber and take it back to the high school. Over the next few weeks, working at the high school, they turned the lumber from just another school project into a visual representation of thanks.

“After we received the lumber, we thought about what the best use of it could be, and came up with the idea to create an American flag that honors those who put their lives on the line every day,” Sweringen said.

“We came up with the concept because we both have a high appreciation for the police, and thought we could pay the police back with something like this,” Boyle added.

The flag features one solitary blue stripe, which represents the national police.

Describing Boyle and Sweringen as “hard-working, value-oriented and good-natured,” Simpson introduced Sweringen and Boyle at the department's annual awards and recognition ceremony on March 8, where the wooden flag was on display.

“Tonight,” Simpson told the audience who gathered at the ceremony at the New Garden Township building, “we get to see first hand that there are so many young people out in the world who care about us, respect us and support our mission.”

The wooden flag is expected to be hung prominently in the regional police department's planned new police facility, which is currently in its final design stages.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].