While most people were at home enjoying a home cooked Thanksgiving meal and spending time with their family, many first responders were out on the job making sure those Thanksgiving festivities all went as planned.

“You know when you become a policeman, that you’re going to have to give up and sacrifice some of your time to work holidays,” said Mark Neely, a patrolman with the Selma Police Department. “At the same time, you want to meet up with your family just like everybody else.”

Neely has been with the department for 5 years, and said he has never had the opportunity to spend an entire Thanksgiving or Christmas with his family.

“I haven’t been home all day for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I’ve worked Christmas and Thanksgiving since I’ve been here,” Neely said.

Although he isn’t able to spend as much time with his loved ones as he would like, Neely said serving the community is still a rewarding part of his job.

“The benefit that you get is the appreciation from the community,” Neely said. “That’s what we try to work toward, that community and police relation. When they see you giving up your time away from your family to be with theirs when they have to call you to their residence, it just makes you appreciate the job that you have and what you do every day.”

Neely said helping others is what keeps him going on the holidays, but he still misses being with his family.

“It’s always rewarding when you can be a blessing to someone else and helping them out, but the trade off to that is what you’re missing with your family,” Neely said.

“When you think about holidays, you think about time and reflection … like a celebration. When you see everybody else engaging in the celebration and the fellowship with each other, that’s where you want to be.”

Because he doesn’t get to see his family that much on the holiday’s, Neely said it’s all about making the time he does get to see them all the more important.

“You just try to take advantage of whatever time you do have with them,” Neely said. “You get used to not being there. So when you are at home for the holidays, it’s like you just got a gift.”

Neely said being in law enforcement and having family on the force as well made him appreciate what all first responders do by giving up time with their own family to protect others.

“The people that have been doing this a lot longer than me, I definitely appreciate them because they’ve missed a lot more than I have, so I definitely appreciate the brothers and sisters in blue,” Neely said.