A chronicle of gratitude: Police station near Tree of Life keeps thank-you notes for posterity

The cookies, the coffee, the food delivered to the Zone 4 police station in the days and weeks after Oct. 27 are all long gone.

The gift cards — $5 to Starbucks, $10 to Coffee Tree Roasters — are still being distributed among the officers at the Northumberland Street station. They’ll be gone, soon, too.

The station, about two blocks away from the Tree of Life synagogue, has mostly returned to normal.

The handwritten notes and cards from next door to the other side of the world, however, remain.

“The first week was just mayhem,” said Zone 4 Cmdr. Daniel Herrmann. “It did help our officers — the people who appreciated (what they did).”

They started on the bulletin board, where cards and notes normally go. From there it moved to the wall around the board, and it just continued to spread. There was so much appreciation that each wall of the station’s lobby was covered with the handmade cards and handwritten notes.

“We filled every wall down there,” Herrmann said.

The cards came off the walls, but they remain in boxes at the station, reminders of a community’s need to say thank you.

Herrmann said he wanted to save the cards — many of which came in bulk from students near and far — should there be an occasion to bring them out again. An anniversary years from now, maybe, he said.

Herrmann called the initial outpouring of support overwhelming. Several dozen women each brought several dozen cookies. Someone brought six frozen turkeys. The Department of Public Safety issued a press release asking residents to stop bringing food. Zone 4 shared the love with the fire station next door as well as the five other zone stations.

It’s in Squirrel Hill’s nature, Herrmann said. Residents will stop by with food or a note just because an officer took a report from them the week before, he said.

“It goes a long way,” he said.