The South Bend Police Department’s Peer Support Team has organized an online meal train for the family of LaPorte County Deputy Samuelson and is asking the community to sign up for meal deliveries. The appeal, posted in 2026, frames the effort as a practical way to help while Samuelson recovers.
The meal train website said the community is being asked to step in to care for the family of “our brother in blue” while he is “fighting hard on the road to recovery.” It added that during a crisis, the last thing a family should have to worry about is what’s for dinner, and said the goal is to let them focus all of their energy on healing, comfort and being there for one another.
The support drive matters now because it turns concern into a specific job: delivering meals. The police department asked people to share the link with their networks, community groups and organizations, widening the effort beyond one neighborhood or one department and making it a public call for help.
The article does not say what happened to Samuelson, and that gap is part of the story. What is known is that his recovery has become the center of a community response, with the police department’s peer support team using a meal train to give his family one less daily burden. In that sense, the message is direct: the need is immediate, the help is organized, and the next step is for people to sign up and deliver.
