Spaghetti supper raises funds for reserve sheriff’s deputies

More than $6,000 raised for Floyd County Sheriff’s reserve

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

About 160 people came to the Elks Lodge Saturday evening to help raise money for Floyd County sheriff’s reserve deputies with a spaghetti dinner.

A little over $6,000 was raised to help assist the reserve force with obtaining equipment and training.

“We’re trying to raise funds for our reserve unit, which is five men strong,”  said Rob Simonson, a Floyd County sheriff reserve deputy. “It’s trying to raise money for equipment, training the new guys, because within 18 months you have to have to get that training done or you can no longer be a reserve (deputy).”

Simonson as been part of the reserve unit for eight years.

This is the first fundraiser for the reserve duties in Floyd County, and the first of what could be an annual spaghetti fundraiser for the reserves.

It costs about $3,000 to get one reserve officer certified and ready to work, Simonson said.

“We only make a buck a year so it saves the taxpayers quite a bit of money in the long run,” Simonson.

Derek Miller, one of the newest reserve deputies, helped spearhead the event Saturday, Jan. 13.

“I went around looking for donations and started a fundraiser to meet and greet with the community,” Miller said. “Let them know who we are, and meet with some of the reserve (deputies) in case they haven’t seen some of us.”

Miller has a been part of the reserves for about year now, and hopes to use his current position to move on to a in career law enforcement, he said.

“This is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Miller said.

When Miller isn’t working with the Sheriff’s Office he works on the wind turbines that mark the sky and landscape around Charles City.

Reserve deputies have to be certified by the state to act as law enforcement officers.

“We all have full-time jobs outside of what we do here,” said Simonson, who is a jail supervisor in Mason City.

“A lot people don’t really know what reserves are or what their function is,” Simonson said.

When the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office is short-staffed the reserve deputies are the ones called to help out around the county.

Reserve deputies have to live in the county they serve.

“Most of us have lived here 20-plus years,” Simonson said. “We know a lot of the community people.”

At town events and fairs the reserves are out assisting the full-time force.

“We fill the gap in the schedule,” Simonson said.