Conn. Jeweler Donates Medical Bags to Local Police Department



“What do you need?”

That was the question the owners of Monarch Jewelers, located in Farmington, Conn., posed to the Farmington Police Department before the start of a summer promotion.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect for a department that had just acquired two new police cruisers.

“It was at the end of the budget year, so we didn’t have the resources to outfit the new vehicles with medical bags,” Lt. Marshall S. Porter tells JCK. “They said, ‘Sure, no problem.’”

Farmington officers are trained medical response technicians and are usually the first at the scene of medical calls and accidents, so these bags are essential tools of the trade. The bags, which run $300 each, contain lifesaving medical equipment such as oxygen masks, bandages, tourniquets, ob-gyn kits for child births, and protective gear for the officers. Monarch Jewelers also donated a bulletproof vest to the police department near its Canton, Conn., store.

Angela DeFelippi, who owns the store along with her husband, Lee, tells JCK that she was happy to give back to a police department that has been very good to the store and to the community.

“We hosted a 30th anniversary promotion that turned out to be more of a party than a sales event,” says DeFelippi. “Part of the proceeds were supposed to go to the purchase of the bags, but we didn’t make any sales!”

DeFelippi had no problem enjoying the celebration of the customers who have been loyal to the store for so many years, and gladly came forward to put up the money to donate the bags. “We didn’t expect any notoriety from it,” she says.

In February 2010, the police department helped Monarch Jewelers track down a man who had swiped three diamonds from the store and replaced them with fakes.

“We were able to get a few still shots from a video, which we released to the public, who gave us a bunch of tips,” says Lieutenant Porter. “We tracked the guy down and were able to recover the diamonds.”

DeFelippi tells JCK that the department’s effort to retrieve the lost stones played a small role in the decision to donate the bags.

“They’ve just been so good to us in so many ways,” says DeFelippi. ““It was something I had to do.”   

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