Donald Grady
NIU’s campus in DeKalb will be a bit safer in the future thanks to a gift from the local Lowe’s hardware store.
Employees of the DeKalb Lowe’s store chose the NIU Department of Public Safety as the recipient of their Heroes Award. Sponsored by the Lowe’s Corp., but voted on by employees at each store, the Heroes Award is intended to honor a local agency that has contributed to the welfare and safety of the community.
The selection of the NIU Department of Public Safety was made, in part, to recognize the department for its work in the hours, days and months following the Feb. 14 shootings at NIU.
“We know what you faced because we faced it with you,” store manager Celeste Cullivan told a room full of NIU police officers in mid-December, explaining that nearly half of the store’s employees have a direct connection to the university whether as students, alumni, staff or parents of students. “We have a great investment with the NIU faculty and student body, and when it came time to choose a grant recipient, the employees wanted to help NIU.”
The $1,200 grant will be used to purchase large “jobsite” boxes to store emergency medical equipment at strategic locations across campus. The department already has eight of the boxes located across campus and now can add five more.
The corporate grant did not quite cover the cost of the boxes, so local Lowe’s employees took up a collection to cover the difference. They also volunteered to come to campus and install the boxes – chaining them in place – at no cost.
“We are extremely grateful to the employees of our local Lowe’s store and the Lowe’s Corp. for selecting us for this honor,” NIU Chief of Police Don Grady said.“These boxes will be a tremendous help in our ongoing efforts to make the NIU campus an ever-safer place.”