By Mary Meaux

The News staff writer

For the most part police officers spend their day fighting crime.

In between calls they may fill out required paperwork, return phone messages and fulfill the task of “to protect and serve.”

But Rocky Bridges goes beyond the call of duty because “it’s too easy to do the right thing.”

The veteran Port Arthur Police officer makes a special trip to a home on Fourth Street near Lakeshore Drive to check on the progress of the restoration of a home. The two-story structure was severely damaged during Hurricane Rita in 2005 making the second floor uninhabitable. The 11 occupants of the home include a 57-year-old widow and her 10 children lived in the damaged bottom floor of the home until Bridges’ intervention.

Bridges learned of the widow’s plight last year when searching for a family to help at Christmas. Through donations and the department’s Blue Santa program the officer was able to procure food and gifts for the family. But when he arrived at the home he was taken aback.

“When I saw the condition of the house ... no one should have to live like that, whether on their own choosing or the path they chose,” he said.

Then, on Christmas Eve 2007 the officer made a promise to Knight that within one year she would be back in her home.

Through his vast list on contacts Bridges found a faith based organization who would come in and repair the home. Local businesses donated materials and South East Texas Interfaith Organization along with Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, provided skilled and unskilled labor.

But the major undertaking at Knights’s home isn’t the only time Bridges has helped his fellow man. Every year he searches for one to two families to donate to during the holidays. This year he plans to feed 100 families for Thanksgiving in four areas hit by Hurricane Ike.

“He is the most unselfish person I know,” his wife Trina Bridges said.

Bridges works at Central Mall on weekends and turned over a small paycheck to an employee at the mall who is a single mother, his wife said.

An East Texas native, Bridges pulls from his own wallet and helps to feed the needy.

“There’s a side of me that I keep to myself,” he said softly. “There’s a homeless man on the West Side, I try to go by and feed him every day. It’s too easy to do the right thing. I’ve always been this way. For the small handful of people who have taken the opportunity to known me, they know I’m not the cold hearted, armor wearing, stern person they see.”

Bridges continued his train of thought.

“There’s another side to all of us that we keep to our self,” he said. “Recently, things like this happen where you see the type of person I really am.”

Raised “in the country” by his paternal grandparents in East Texas, Bridges’ morals and standards were shaped by his grandfather, William Bridges.

The elder Bridges instilled nuggets of wisdom such as “no matter how bad you have it, somebody has it worse then you,” and “if you have money left over after you have taken care of your responsibilities, then give to others” took root in his heart.

Even to this day if there are visitors at his home during dinner Bridges will wait for the guests to eat first before he takes a bite.

Bridges often seeks others who need help. He told of an elderly man and woman who live alone in his neighborhood. For whatever reason their families do not visit much, he said. But when the holidays roll around the officer makes sure the two people have something special to eat.

Bridges prefers to make a difference in the lives of others without fanfare and it’s not beyond him to pay the tab for older individuals when he’s in a restaurant.

“I might see a person, especially an older couple, who, by physical appearance, you know that that night out is a big deal for them. I’ll ask the waitress to bring me their ticket,” he said. “I’ve had people see me do this and ask me why. I tell them to look at the expression on their faces. That smile is worth 10 times what the meal costs.”

“God has a goal and a task for all of us to do each day. He’ll head us in the right direction,” he said. “Some of the things you do for others are things you do every day and others don’t see it.”

He feels God’s blessing each day he wakes up, he said, and knows that day will be a good day because the Lord gave it to him.

Pinned to his uniform are several award citations ranging from his police work in narcotics and burglaries to assisting in the capture of a triple homicide suspect.

The most special of his awards is a meritous duty pin he received last year for the work at Knights home and for feeding the homeless man on the West Side. The best moment in the ceremony was when Police Chief Mark Blanton shook his hand and said “I’m proud of you,” he said.

So what’s next for the man who puts others before him? Preaching.

“The Good Lord has put a message in my heart,” he said. “I want to preach in a church in Port Arthur.”