DENVER — Denver Public Schools emergency dispatcher Remington McFadden is making sure students and schools stay safe, even on Christmas Day.
DPS emergency dispatchers and patrol officers work around the clock 365 days a year to answer calls for service at any campus or conduct Safe2Tell follow-ups.
McFadden is one of the few holding down the fort at DPS’s dispatch center this year.
“Obviously, it's tough being away from our families at home. But luckily, we've created a family within our department as well,” said McFadden.
This Christmas, though, she’s pulling double duty.
Just this year, she turned her love of cooking into a passion project by starting her own catering business.
“Down-to-earth, home, good, filled cooking is all that I'm about,” she said.
And this Christmas, not only is she answering calls, she’s also catering a holiday meal to the colleagues who’ve turned into family.
“If we do have a call, [I] kind of did a grab-and-go style for them, so they can heat up and head out, should they need to, but we can still also sit down with one another,” she said.
This fall semester, DPS dispatchers got more than 14,000 calls for service — so finding camaraderie in these rare moments of stillness, like Christmas Day, is crucial for these first responders.
“I believe coming here on our downtime and just hanging out and just, you know, conversing and saying jokes and just absorbing that moment, I believe it's very important just so that way we can execute that on the street as well,” said patrol officer Joseph Guerra.
The gift of good food and good friendship in an otherwise challenging job is something McFadden is more than happy to give this Christmas Day.
“If I can put a smile on somebody's face, that's what I'm here to do,” she said.
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