CARTERSVILLE, GA – For Daniel Veiga, serving and protecting others doesn’t end when his day job in corporate security at Georgia Power ends. For the Cartersville resident and part-time officer in the local police force – who formerly served as the school resources officer for the City of Cartersville School System – he knows the importance of supporting the next generation.
“A few years ago I was approached by a colleague I worked with at the Cartersville Police Department about starting a distraction program for the children we knew in school,” Veiga said in a press release. “This program has a direct and immediate impact on our community.”
This program became “Youth Against Violence and Drugs”, an initiative that aims to offer young men and women aged 12 and over who are in need courses and mentors who help with life lessons and character development.
“Most of these children have had encounters with law enforcement, juvenile courts or disciplinary bodies within a school system such as fighting, stealing, truancy or just plain bad behavior,” he said. “Students who are willing to take this program want to learn better behavior, but they also want to prevent them from standing before a juvenile judge and facing punishments such as imprisonment and fouling.”
The program is led by Veiga, now a part-time officer with the City of Kingston, as well as two current full-time police officers from Cartersville and Douglas County Schools, another part-time officer from Kingston, and is supported by a number of athletic coaches, pastors, teachers and counselors. The leaders come together to support teaching and mentoring, including a two-hour program per day held over a 10-week period.
At the end of the program, participants will receive a certificate of completion, a T-shirt and advice on follow-up care and mentoring options.
“Sometimes we assist these children with job placement and make an effort to follow up and provide support or mentoring to ensure they don’t get right back into the same mode or behavior that brought them here,” he said.
Veiga understands the importance of strong parenting and what the impact of a strong mentor can do to the predominantly male population attending these courses. As a father of six, 24 years of police experience, including nine years as a resource officer in the Cartersville City School District, and a spouse teaching at Cartersville High School, Veiga believes that interventions with children at an earlier age are probably more important to her Correct behavior.
When asked what the most rewarding part of running this initiative was, Veiga said “being able to see these children grow and improve over the years.”
Now he works in Corporate Security at Georgia Power and believes in living up to the company’s motto of “Be a Citizen Wherever We Serve”.
“Having the opportunity to work full-time at Georgia Power and still work part-time in the police force to serve these students and the community has been so rewarding to me, and I appreciate the opportunity to do both.”
To support the initiative and help it grow in the Bartow County community, Veiga contacted Cam Parker, a Georgia Power area manager in Cartersville, to see if the company could provide assistance.
“It was a great opportunity for us to provide support as we have a strong focus on vulnerable children and families in the area,” said Parker. “These children often find themselves in situations where small problems can become big obstacles and big problems can become catastrophic. One wrong decision can lead to emergencies that are often too bad to deal with on your own. This is where Daniel and his colleagues jump in to make a real difference where a real difference is urgently needed, and Georgia Power is proud to support their efforts. “
Parker secured a $ 1,000 donation to the company’s initiative, which Veiga and his family personally supported.
“These children come for advice and sometimes want hard love,” said Veiga. “They know we love them and we will be honest with them and help as best we can.”