A police motorcade and five helicopters rolled onto the Loma Linda University campus Wednesday, bringing a wave of sirens, rotor blades, and Pokémon cards to pediatric patients who needed a break from hospital rooms. The 25th annual Cops for Kids Fly-In drew more than a dozen local law enforcement agencies to Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, filling the north lawn with motorcycles, SWAT vehicles, and aircraft meant to pull young patients’ attention away from pain and illness, even if just for an afternoon.
The day began earlier at the San Bernardino Sheriff Aviation facility, where volunteers loaded toys into a box truck before the motorcade and helicopters departed for the children’s hospital, according to Loma Linda University Health News. Patients well enough to leave their rooms gathered on the lawn to watch the helicopters touch down, while those who couldn’t make it outside followed the action through a livestream piped into their rooms.
Once on the ground, officers made the rounds in person. One handed out Pokémon cards to kids crowding around the vehicles. Law enforcement teams also fanned out through the hospital’s units to hand-deliver gifts bedside to patients who weren’t able to join the outdoor festivities.
A Quarter-Century of Community Partnership
The Fly-In brought area law enforcement to Children’s Hospital, where officers spent time with pediatric patients. The afternoon centered on the children and the people caring for them.
Checks Worth $41,485 Head to the Hospital
Beyond the aircraft and toys, the day carried a financial boost for the hospital. The Riverside Police Department and Stater Bros. Charities each presented donation checks, combining for a total of $41,485 given to Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, the university reported.
The 24th annual Fly-In took place on the hospital’s north lawn on October 29, 2025, the Press-Enterprise reported. At that event, children could sit inside vehicles and helicopters, meet K-9 units, and greet officers face to face. Officers that year also donated toys and books, personally delivering them to children confined to their rooms, and the celebration closed with a surprise 18th birthday party for patient Miranda Aosorno of Rialto, according to Loma Linda University Health News’s coverage of that event.
Roots That Stretch Back Decades
Accounts differ on exactly when the tradition began. Vertical Magazine has reported that the Fly-In launched in 1998, when a pilot with the Riverside Police Aviation Unit started it to lift the spirits of children facing serious health challenges. A separate account from the San Bernardino Sun places the origin in 1999, tracing it to a nine-year-old patient named Megan Colley, who wanted to help other children in the hospital’s oncology ward during her own treatment.
Whatever its exact starting point, the event has grown considerably over the years. The Sun’s coverage of the 17th annual Fly-In in 2016 described nearly 100 officers, deputies, and Marines meeting with more than 700 children at Loma Linda University Medical Center that year, a scale that underscores how deeply the tradition has taken root in the Inland Empire’s law enforcement and medical communities alike.
