Corrections Sergeant Wendy Crawford recently returned from a 10 day missions trip to Nairobi, Kenya, with a team from Charlotte County to experience Younglife in Africa. Locally, Sgt. Crawford devotes much of her personal time to the youth in our community though the Younglife organization. While in Kenya, Crawford’s team visited a children’s home, participated in Younglife group activities, and put together a day camp for over 100 students, and completed a construction project at a local high school. It doesn’t come a surprise to this agency that the young women in the groups were inspired by Sgt. Crawford, both by her success and her desire to give back to her community.
Young Life is a Christian ministry that reaches out to middle school, high school and college-aged kids in all 50 of the United States as well as more than 90 countries around the world. Sgt. Crawford has served as a Younglife leader at Port Charlotte High School since 2011. “Students measure how much you care about them based on the amount of time you spend with them,” states Sgt. Crawford. “They don’t care how much you know; they want to know how much you care.” Sgt. Crawford notes that the positive impact she makes on a student often has a rippling effect on the entire family. She is personally touched when former students reach back out to her as adults to thank her for the impact she had on their lives.
While in Kenya, Sgt. Crawford was also able to observe local law enforcement, providing a global perspective on our differences and similarities with our countries and cultures. Sergeant Wendy Crawford is an excellent example of a Deputy who infuses our core values in every aspect of their service to community.
Here at the Sheriff’s Office, we are proud of Sgt. Crawford’s call to service beyond our agency – but we are certainly glad to have her back home!
Leave a Reply