QSR: Dickey's Invest in a Vest

QSR covered Barbecue, Boots & Badges new initiative 'Invest in a Vest'. 

According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the fatality risk for law enforcement officers in America is nearly four times greater than that of the average American worker. Barbecue, Boots & Badges, the charitable foundation founded by Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, aims to reduce that risk for police officers by providing life-saving bullet proof vests.

Barbecue, Boots & Badges’ newest initiative is called “Invest in a Vest”. The foundation has partnered with Angel Armor to provide life-saving ballistic body armor for police officers. A donation of $500 buys a set of ballistic plates, which protect the wearer from sniper rounds and high-powered ammunition. The foundation will donate ballistic plates to Dallas Police Department’s entire gang unit to launch the “Invest in a Vest” program on Tuesday, February 28.  Ballistic vests have saved the lives of at least 3,000 law enforcement officers and increased survival rates from gunshots to the torso by 14 percent. “The risk of dying from a gunshot wound to the torso is 3.4 times higher for law enforcement officers who do not wear armor vests,” cites Nathan James, Analyst in Crime Policy for the Congressional Research Service.

“Barbecue, Boots & Badges aims to serve those who protect us,” says Commissioner Maurine Dickey, the founder and spokesperson of Dickey’s foundation. “Our first responders put their lives on the line for us every day, and we hope to provide this state of the art equipment to make their jobs safer.”

Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. also has launched a donation matching program for in-store fundraisers.