Community lunch recognizes Longboat's first responders

Sharing a meal goes a long way in building connection, and Longboaters have made an annual tradition of doing just that with their first responders.

Volunteers with Longboat Island Chapel stacked the sandwiches high for their lunch with Longboat Island Police officers on Thursday at the station. Chef David Stone also whipped up a selection of pumpkin and blueberry muffins, key lime pie squares, fudgy brownies and other goodies for staff to enjoy too.

The tradition has been going on for about five years now, and, this year, it happened to fall just after Police Chief Russ Mager's first anniversary serving the Longboat Key community. He was sworn in on Aug. 4, 2025.

Mager came to the island from Delray Beach, where he served for nearly three decades.

He put boots to the ground right away, scheduling meetups with many of the area's clubs, churches and other groups. One of his strengths as a leader is in building community relationships, he said, so seeing residents continue the lunch tradition is a sign those ties remain strong.

The chief said he sincerely appreciates the gesture of goodwill shown to his department every year.

"We work hard each and every day at our job to keep people safe and serve our community," he said. "It's super nice of them to do. Sometimes, we get lost behind the uniform, but we're all human beings behind it."

Mager said the takeaway is that everyone likes when their work is appreciated.

"When you see within a community that people like where they live and feel safe there, you're doing something right as a police department," he added.

Longboat Key Fire Rescue wasn't left out. The same team of Linda and Larry Theuer, Connie DiMaggio and the Rev. Brock Patterson planned a lunch for the firefighters Wednesday.

Mager said he has learned a lot in the past year about the value of residents and officers working together toward the betterment of the community.

"It's been a pleasure to work here," Mager reflected. "I'm honored to be the chief here — I couldn't ask for a better job, and I don't think I could find one anywhere."