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Modesto church honors police, first responders with 'Unity Matters' event

The House Modesto played host to the "Unity Matters" event which honored police, firefighters, dispatchers, correctional officers, and all others in the law enforcement family.

MODESTO, Calif. — The House Modesto church showed appreciation for the law enforcement officers and first responders of Northern California Monday evening, at an event called Unity Matters.

This was the fourth year of Unity Matters. On his church’s website, Pastor Glen Berteau explains he "chose the name ‘Unity Matters’ because he believes, in the eyes of the Lord, that all lives are important. When people come together in unity great things can happen.”

Officers, fire fighters, dispatchers, correctional officers and other members of law enforcement from more than 50 Northern California agencies received a standing ovation from hundreds of community members as they walked into the sanctuary Monday evening.

Credit: ABC10KXTV
The House Modesto holds a Unity Matters event to support law enforcement.

Officer Blake Ebbert, of the Oakdale Police Department, told ABC10 he definitely feels the community's support.

"Especially in our community, everybody supports law enforcement in the Modesto area," Ebbert said, adding that in Stanislaus County, "officers are very well-liked."

Ebbert has spoken at Unity Matters for the past two years.

"It's good for the community and everyone else to see kind of what we do and interact with us and understand that we're people as well," he said.

Ebbert is a K9 officer. By his side at the event was his 7-year-old police dog, Cruze, who also risks his life for the public's safety - especially when chasing after a suspected felon.

"Normally, people with firearms are not going to be able to hit him while he's moving or doing anything, but the knives are what concern us," Ebbert explained, "because he can get stabbed in his chest or his side, and that's normally what injures a dog."

The Unity Matters event also heard from 19-year-old Delaurence Williams, with the church's youth group.

Growing up in Atlanta, he said, Williams got caught up in gang violence and went to juvenile detention four times. During that fourth time, however, a juvenile correctional officer took Williams under his wing.

"Then when he kind of asked me, like, 'Hey, what are you going to do after you get out?' It kind of gave me, like, 'Man, what am I going to do?'" Williams recalled. "Just hearing that from, like, a higher guidance, it just kind of gave me hope."

Williams acknowledges the tensions that do exist throughout the nation between law enforcement and communities of color, in the wake incidents like the 2018 shooting death of Stephon Clark.

"For a lot of kids who are struggling with the same thing, especially of my color, just know we don't have to live by the past," Williams said. "We don't have to live with hatred in our heart. We literally can just – we're able to forgive people. We're able to move on. Yes, there's still things that happen to us. Yes, there's still a lot of bad things, but just like Martin Luther King said, you don't have to fight fire with fire."

Williams is now studying to become a youth pastor.

The Unity Matters event aimed to bring people together, and, for the people in the House Modesto's sanctuary, that mission was accomplished.

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WATCH ALSO: Modesto Police detective runs Boston Marathon to honor fallen officers

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