Danielle Ireland has long respected the officers who patrol the streets.
“I don’t want to be a police officer, but I’m so thankful for those who do,” she said.
When she saw a photo of a group of children who had made a poster covered with support for their local police agency, she was inspired to show her gratitude, too.
She and her daughter Addi Dearinger, who own and operate the paint-your-own ceramics store Earth, Glaze & Fire, brainstormed ideas. What they came up with will end up being a gift from more than just the two of them: a coffee cup for each Vancouver police officer, adorned with messages from the community.
How to help: Cups of Kindness
To write a message for the Cups of Kindness project, fill out a 2-by-3-inch piece of paper at Earth, Glaze and Fire between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Those interested can also mail the message to the store at 2106 Main St., Vancouver, WA 98660. Messages can also be scanned and emailed to
earthglazeandfireceramics@gmail.com. For more information, call the business at 360-737-3896.
“My belief is that (police officers) are so often not viewed as part of our community, there’s a negative vein to it,” Ireland said.
The project, Cups of Kindness, is still in its early stages, with the duo working hard to make 190 coffee cups.
Dearinger casts the mugs from clay, which she does just three days a week to allow the plaster molds to rest. Ireland takes charge of the kiln, turning the greenware into sturdy bisque that’s ready to be painted. Each mug will have room for five sets of messages. Together, they are making about 15 mugs a week.
At that rate, they’re set to make the 190 mugs by Dec. 5 and hope to deliver them to the agency the week before Christmas. But to do that, they need more community members to write messages of support.
“We’re trying to reach out to as many people as possible,” Ireland said. “We want the whole community, not just who walks through our doors.”
Ireland said she hopes the hundreds of messages combat the negativity police have been subject to recently.
“There’s good and bad in absolutely everything,” she said. But community policing, Ireland said, includes everyone. “We can always do more and always do better.”
As a business owner, she’s dealt with issues with the homeless population and graffiti, and even had her car damaged in a hit-and-run.
“They nurtured my compassion for the person who did it,” she said. The officer who investigated the crash went above and beyond, Ireland said. Though she was at first angry and wanted to press charges, the officer offered information on the culprit that helped her see the suspect as a person.
“The learning I chose to take from that, it’s something he offered,” she said.
For the project, the pair is asking members of the community to come in to the store to write a note or send a note in by mail or email.
Though typed notes are OK, the two prefer handwritten notes or drawings on a 2 inch by 3 inch piece of paper. The duo will then trace the message onto the mugs using transfer paper, so the messages can be captured in their original handwriting.
“What really, really matters to me is there is authenticity to this that is profound,” Ireland said. “Not one mug will be the same.”
The cost of the project, the two say, is negligible since they’re making their own mugs and putting in their own time.
“It’s labor-intensive,” Ireland said. “It’s a lot of time and effort for us, but at the same time, it isn’t. It’s just so easy to give back. “
They also say that it’s not a marketing ploy — people who come in will not be asked to paint. The goal, they say, is to turn the national conversation about police from negativity to gratitude.
“This is what we need to be focusing on,” Ireland said.
Ireland said that so far, those who have written messages do so without any hesitation — the gratitude, she said, is on the tip of their tongue.
Ireland and Dearinger say it’s apparent that people are thankful, but “we just don’t say it,” Ireland added.
“It’s nice to remind people that they’re appreciated,” Dearinger said. “At the end of the day, when you have an emergency, they’re who you call first.”
“And there’s a reason for that, and it’s right here,” Ireland said, gesturing to a few of the completed mugs bearing messages such as: “Thank you for saving us from the bad guys,” “Thank you for your hard work,” and “Your one life saves thousands every year.”
Kim Kapp, spokeswoman for the Vancouver Police Department, said she’s excited for the officers to see the final result.
“It’s a really nice gesture; we certainly appreciate it,” Kapp said.
Which is exactly what the mother-daughter duo is going for. Ireland and Dearinger said they hope when officers are in the break room or at their desks, they pull out a mug and smile when they see how much they matter.
“On a bad day, not a bad day, on any day, they have some kind of a reminder, a tangible reminder,” Ireland said.
