 The food was flying off the griddle at the Cavalier Cafe in Jenkins today, but one group's money was no good there. The restaurant offered free meals Friday to law enforcement officers. The cops don't pay today effort was a way for the restaurant to say thanks to those who protect the community. With everything going on around the country the last couple days, we just really wanted to show our appreciation and thank the officers for everything they do for us and to help us and to show that there are people that support them and we wanted to offer them a free lunch today. It's not much, but we felt like it was the least we could do for them. Co-owner Jay Graham said the restaurant even delivered meals to members of the nearby Pound Virginia Police Department. The token of our appreciation, we invited the officers to stop by and join us today, but we've had a few that couldn't make it and we have actually delivered their lunches to them. Jenkins Police Chief Jim Stevens and Jenkins Mayor Todd DePriest said they're not surprised by the Cavalier Cafe's kind gesture. We really appreciate what they're doing. I think it's a good thing they're doing here today to show a little bit of appreciation one day out of the year for what they do. People here appreciate us when they see us. They tell us they appreciate us. If we're off to school, if we're off on vacation, they don't see us for a while. They ask where we've been and how things are going. It's really good. The restaurant here is great. The people here are awesome. Nine and Tommy, Jay and his wife, Christie and all the others are just great. It's nice to be appreciated, that's for sure. Stevens, who had to leave during his lunch to respond to a call on US 23, said being a police officer is a difficult job and national events have made it even more difficult. People don't understand that policemen don't wake up in the morning and decide I'm going to go mess with so-and-so. Chances are we don't even know the person that will come in contact with. People can sit for hours and hours watching videotapes and listening to witness statements about what happened. They have all that time to decide what action they should take to be appropriate. We don't. We only have a few seconds, sometimes not even that. But the purpose of Friday's COPS Don't Pay Today effort was to say thanks. Reporting in Jenkins for EKB News, I'm Chris Anderson.