Get Behind the Vest pancake breakfast fundraiser to provide bullet proof vests for Chicago Police Officers

This weekend you can support an effort to make sure that the Chicago police officers who are on patrol have the best equipment to keep them safe.

And all you have to do is eat pancakes.

Alderman Matt O'Shea, who represents the 19th Ward, is hosting his sixth annual "Get Behind the Vest Pancake Breakfast" Sunday, at the Saint John Fischer School in Beverly.

Admission is $5 per person or $25 for families. All money raised will be donated to the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation's Get Behind the Vest initiative, which actively raises funds to replace bulletproof vests for Chicago police officers.

According to the foundation, bulletproof vests need to be replaced every five years, at a cost to police officers of about $650. Over the past six years, the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation has replaced over 9,000 outdated bulletproof vests. Currently, there are 4,200 vests that are eligible to be replaced.

When an officer is shot, Officer Kimberly Lewis-Davis is at the hospital as part of the Chaplain's Unit, so she knows firsthand how critical bulletproof vests are to protecting officers.

O'Shea and Lewis-Davis spoke with ABC 7 Chicago Thursday about the ongoing effort to protect police.