As much as they would like to be, every parent cannot be present for every school event.

Parents go on deployment, have other demanding jobs and get ill. But their children still deserve to have someone with them during special times.

That’s why the community stepped up during the Donuts for Dads event last week at St. Andrew’s Preschool. Many of the children had fathers who couldn’t make it to the event due to being deployed or otherwise stuck at work, so the preschool called in reinforcements.

About 10 Suffolk Police Department officers, as well as various church members and local business owners, turned up to make sure every child had a positive male role model to sit with them during the event, even if it wasn’t their father.

The stand-ins played on the floor with the children, ate doughnuts with them and proudly sported doughnut-themed ties made by the kids. They also watched the youngsters demonstrate the skills they have learned in preschool.

“It makes our kids feel like they’re part of a great community that cares about them,” St. Andrew Preschool co-director Carol Carnegie said.

The men who went to St. Andrew’s last week took ownership of kids in our community who might have otherwise felt left out during the event, and we appreciate them for stepping up.