Central Market Donates $25K to Invest in a Vest

DALLAS - May 31, 2017 // PRNewswire // - This Friday, Dickey's Barbecue Pit's charitable foundation Barbecue, Boots & Badges will present local police officers with 50 life-saving, bulletproof vests as part of its Invest in a Vest initiative. This donation is made possible by a generous contribution of $25,000 by Central Market.

The donation presentation will take place at the Central Market Lovers Lane location on Friday, June 2 from 12-2pm. Although the event is not open to the public, anyone interested in getting involved or supporting Barbecue, Boots & Badges can visit http://www.bbabfoundation.org/.

"Barbecue, Boots & Badges was founded to serve those who put their lives on the line every day to protect our community," said Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Pit, Inc. "These brave men and women deserve our support, and we want to make sure they are getting the best equipment possible. We thank Central Market for helping us in this endeavor."

The Invest in a Vest initiative is a partnership between Dickey's Barbecue Pit's charitable foundation, Barbecue, Boots & Badges, and Angel Armor to provide local police officers with life-saving body armor. A $500 donation provides one officer with a set of ballistic plates, which are capable of protecting them from sniper rounds and high-powered ammunition. Wearing body armor more than triples the likelihood that an officer can survive a shooting to the torso, according to a RAND Corporation study. In addition, more than 3,000 officers' lives have been saved by their body armor to date, according to the American National Institute of Justice.

"Central Market has great respect for our police officers who commit their lives to our safety each and every day. This donation of vest plates is our way of saying "Thank you" for their loyal and dedicated service to the city of Dallas," said Stephen Butt, President of Central Market. "These new plates will provide an added layer of state-of-the art defense for those who protect all of us."

To find the Dickey's Barbecue Pit nearest you: https://www.dickeys.com/locations. Find Dickey's on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About Barbecue, Boots & Badges

Enthusiastically led by Maurine Dickey, Barbecue, Boots & Badges supports local law enforcement, firefighters and their families. The foundation is national, yet the support is intensely local — benefiting first responders who put their lives on the line every day, serving the public. The foundation exists to serve those who protect us.