BY: Lilibeth De Jesus
Born in Tarlac, Tarlac Hermogenes Jarin Dennis III by his mother who hails from Tarlac and his father from Cavite.
Dennis studied at the San Beda College from elementary to college and before finishing it, he decided to further his studies in the USA and live there.
Over the years, determination and perseverance opened the way to his dream: to be law enforcer in America. Since the fifth grade he used to tell his classmates that he would like to be a policeman someday. He probably got it from watching television shows such as Starsky & Hutch, and Chips and Streets of San Francisco. The process Dennis went through was not easy because competition was really stiff. The screening started from 300 applicants, down to 100 and to 20 people wherein 2 successful applicants would be chosen and one of them was Dennis to join the police force in New Jersey for that batch.
He started as a Patrolman, showed the skills and expertise, launched several programs, and established the police motorcycle unit for their department. He also had the privilege of patrolling in a Harley Davidson motorbike.This paved the way to an idea of an event he initiated together with his supportive wife, Christina. This event benefits the less fortunate children during Christmas through the Toy Run Foundation. Yearly, every first week of October there is a gathering of motorbike riders from different places such as New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and they do the Toy Drive of 65 miles and simultaneously getting donations for Toy Run Foundation. The collected toys are then set up in a place just like in a department store. Then the parents of these less fortunate children, after registering at the church, go to the toy shop to choose five toys per child. Perhaps you might wonder why the children aren’t the ones who choose their toys. This is simply because this will give the parents the opportunity to wrap the gifts, and on Christmas Eve, the kids will unwrap Santa Claus’ gift.This tradition, I believe, should be passed on to the next generations.. It is such a joy for any parent to see the smiles on their children’s faces because gifts. To date, Toy Run foundation is at its 15th year and running strong.
Currently, Dennis is the Traffic Safety Unit Patrol Sergeant Motorcycle Unit Supervisor where broader and greater responsibilities for the enforcement of the law is at his shoulders, one of which is carefully managing his team and training them to excellence in serving the New Jersey community. He serves as a great example for his colleagues and may this be a shining inspiration to Filipinos who dreams big and achieving it means working on it with passion and commitment. Kudos to you, Mr. Dennis Jarin, we are proud of you. May you continue to your noble cause and still keeping the pinoy at heart.
