Do you have any spare morale patches or you just have lying around gathering dust? If you do, why not send them to Paul Ferrara Jr. who is collecting morale patches and will be turning 16 years old next month. If you are wondering why, read the story posted by Disgruntled Vets on Facebook, it will make you feel good if you send one right now:

Alright nation listen up, you know what to do. Let's spread the word.

Paul is turning 16 and he wants patches!! More and more patches!"

Paul has autism. He obsesses over things sometimes. Right now he loves his patches. Paul lost his dad, Sgt. Paul Ferrara, on August 28, 2014 to 9/11 related cancer. At his service, Commissioner Bratton presented Paul Jr. with a challenge coin. His coin collection began and has grown tremendously. Since then he has collected over 200 coins. In May of this year, we went to Washington D.C for National Police Week because his father's name was added to the Memorial Wall. While we were there, we traded coins with people from all over, and some people were kind enough to give him a patch as well. That's where his patch collection took off. He recently got several new ones, and now he loves to sit with his patches, read them, and look at all the pictures on them.

His birthday is November 29th and he wants patches. I asked how many he hoped to get and he said "a billion". That's his favorite number. I told him he probably won't get a billion but maybe we can go on Facebook and see how many he can get. If you are willing to send a patch from your department to Paul, he would be so excited!!

Paul Ferrara Jr
PO Box 304
Yaphank NY 11980

Thanks to One Grunt's Opinion for the link.

Top photo: U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Phil Speck