Betty Rodes, dedicated community activist and friend of the police, receives the Cleveland Police Foundation’s Community Partner of the Month Award for her unwavering support of the Cleveland Division of Police and her commitment to strengthening her neighborhood.
The Cleveland Police Foundation implemented the Community Partner of the Month Award so we could honor those individuals from the community who strive to support the mission goals of the Cleveland Division of Police and the CPF.
Betty Rodes, a longtime friend of the police and community activist, is most deserving of this honor. She has been president of the Fullerton Street Club in Slavic Village since 2005, went through the Citizen’s Police Academy over twenty years ago, and has been a member of the C.P.A. Alumni since then.
I visited Betty recently, along with CPD Retired Officer Jeff Stanczyk, to celebrate her 90th birthday and asked her why she felt the need to do so much for her community and the police. She stated, “Nothing is more important to me than to have neighbors looking out for each other and supporting our hard-working police officers.”
It should also be noted that Betty’s son Jimmy, a now-retired CPD officer, would invite his platoon over for a meal on holidays when he had to work, and she would feed them.
It is because of her endless support of the Cleveland Division of Police and her need to help improve her individual neighborhood that the Cleveland Police Foundation is indeed honored to bestow upon Betty Rodes our Community Partner of the Month Award.
– Bob Guttu, Cleveland Police Foundation
Nominated by Bob Guttu and Jeff Stanczyk