SALISBURY — Local school resource officers have a new idea to help students — flipping hamburgers.

Toward the end of February, West Rowan Middle School SRO Danny Lindley said he realized that he and other officers could provide a big service to schools if they had a large grill at their disposal.

“All of our schools in the county are doing fundraisers, constantly trying to raise money,” Lindley said.

Students raise money for band, for athletics, for school trips and for school supplies. And while schools have their own methods of fundraising, those could be augmented by selling hamburgers, hot dogs or grilled chicken.

SROs have a small grill that they can use or let schools borrow. But Lindley is hoping to purchase a larger, pull-behind grill.

“With a grill this size, we could do a lot more,” he said.

Lindley took the idea to SRO Director Sgt. Christopher Flowers, and soon after the county’s SRO officers began raising money.

It’s their hope that the grill can be used both to loan out to any school that needs it and to provide a treat during programs such as the Sheriff’s Office’s summer camp, Shop With a Cop or resource officer training. Lindley and Flowers said they’d even like to use the grill to cook food for teachers on workdays.

“Both he and I like to cook and love to cook for others,” Flowers said.

But the grill would serve other purposes — such as bringing the community together and helping students see their SROs in a more relaxed context. According to Lindley, schools across the district are pushing to get parents more involved. And this may be a way to help.

“Most of the time, we get more involvement from families if we feed ’em,” he said. “Feed ’em and they will come.”

Local SROs are also just a few pieces of paperwork away from launching a foundation that would help provide scholarships to local students interested in pursing a career in law enforcement or law. The grill would be used to help raise money for that, as well.

The foundation is the brainchild of former resource officer Brandon Linn, who now works for the town of Landis. Linn said that last summer, he was trying to think of a way that local SROs could challenge themselves while being more involved in the community and giving back. He thought of all the students he’d known who had struggled to get an education after high school.

“So many kids nowadays, unfortunately, don’t have the means to go to college,” he said.

The foundation would be a way to offset that for some students.

“If we can help make their dreams come true. … I think that’d be an excellent thing to do,” Linn said.

While an SRO’s job on paper is to provide security and protection for students, local resource officers view their schools as family — and Lindley and Flowers pointed out that Rowan County is their community, too.

“This is an investment in the community. We hope the community invests in us so we can give back to the youth of Rowan County,” Flowers said.

They’re hoping for a custom-built grill large enough to cook batches of half chickens and side dishes. But Flowers said they’ll purchase whatever grill they’re able to afford.

“If we were only to raise $1,000, we’d get a $1,000 grill,” he said.

For more information about the foundation, contact Brandon Linn at blinn@landispolice.com. To donate to help the SROs purchase a grill, contact Flowers at 704-216-8732, call the Youth Services Bureau at 704-633-5636 or visit the fundraiser’s GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/rowancountysro.

Contact reporter Rebecca Rider at 704-797-4264.