The Brewton East Brewton police departments were the recipients of generous donations from Georgia-Pacific Brewton on Thursday.

Jeff Joyce, GP plant manager, said the donations of $5,000 for each police department came as an effort to help the community.

“We are always looking for an opportunity to promote our community services,” Joyce said. “What better way to support our community than to give to the local police departments?”

According to a press release from Georgia-Pacific, the Brewton mill was approached by the Brewton and East Brewton police departments with urgent needs that directly affected the community.

The $5,000 donation given to the Brewton Police Department will be used to help purchase a new drug dog. The donation will help the department to continue to curtail drug-related issues in the community.

The $5,000 donation to the East Brewton Police Department will be used to purchase computer equipment for the patrol cars and a new computer for the dispatcher.

“We felt that the donations to help our local police departments help create a safer community,” said Jason Daniel, GP public affairs manager. “Safety is our number one priority.”

Both Kenny Brazile, East Brewton police chief, and Monte McGougin, Brewton police chief, were on hand to accept the donations and to thank GP.

“It’s great to know that the businesses in our area will step up and help be a real part of the community in this way,” said Brazile. “With the economy the way it is, we need all the help we can get.”

McGougin said he wanted to thank the administration of GP for this opportunity.

“Our last dog that we had passed away, and we had been without one for a while,” McGougin said. “The K-9 unit is very important in our department. It takes people like those at GP to step up to help us at a time like this.”