Dickey’s Barbecue, Boots & Badges Foundation Provides 50 Life-Saving Vests for Local Officers

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(DALLAS)– This Friday, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit’s charitablefoundation Barbecue, Boots & Badges will present local police officers with50 life-saving, bulletproof vests as part of its Invest in a Vest initiative.This donation is made possible by a generous contribution of $25,000 by CentralMarket.

The donation presentation will take place at the CentralMarket Lovers Lane location on Friday, June 2 from 12-2pm. Although the eventis not open to the public, anyone interested in getting involved or supportingBarbecue, Boots & Badges can visit http://www.bbabfoundation.org/.

“Barbecue, Boots & Badges was founded to serve thosewho put their lives on the line every day to protect our community,” said LauraRea Dickey, CEO of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Inc. “These brave men and womendeserve our support, and we want to make sure they are getting the bestequipment possible. We thank Central Market for helping us in this endeavor.”

The Invest in a Vest initiative is a partnership betweenDickey’s Barbecue Pit’s charitable foundation, Barbecue, Boots & Badges,and AngelArmor to provide local police officers with life-saving body armor. A $500donation provides one officer with a set of ballistic plates, which are capableof protecting them from sniper rounds and high-powered ammunition. Wearing bodyarmor more than triples the likelihood that an officer can survive a shootingto the torso, according to a RAND Corporation study. In addition, more than3,000 officers’ lives have been saved by their body armor to date, according tothe American National Institute of Justice.

“Central Market has great respect for our police officerswho commit their lives to our safety each and every day.  This donation of vest plates is our way ofsaying “Thank you” for their loyal and dedicated service to the city ofDallas,” said Stephen Butt, President of Central Market. “These new plates willprovide an added layer of state-of-the art defense for those who protect all ofus.”

To find the Dickey’s Barbecue Pitnearest you, click here. Find Dickey’s on Twitter,Facebookand Instagram. 

About Barbecue,Boots & Badges

Enthusiastically led by Maurine Dickey, Barbecue, Boots& Badges supports local law enforcement, firefighters and their families.The foundation is national, yet the support is intensely local — benefitingfirst responders who put their lives on the line every day, serving the public.The foundation exists to serve those who protect us.

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