By Terra Avilla
If you’ve seen me in the past three months on duty, you have probably noticed that my signature messy bun (much to my Chief’s delight) has been replaced with stylish and neat looking French braids. This of course is no doing of my own but by the patience and heart of this week’s feature… Niki Jarrell.
Now you see, women who know how to French braid are elite, and women who are willing to consistently do it for other grown women need to be protected at all costs. Niki, who works as a youth services officer for the Susanville Police Department, makes it a point to come in early every day just to do it for me.
If you have lived in Susanville for any length of time, I guarantee you know Niki. I think I still lived in Reno, and I even knew who she was. At the time, she wrote a sports column for SusanvilleStuff and you could see her happily cheering on her sons as they played whatever sport was in season.
Everyone knew Niki.
I was fortunate to grow close with her as her oldest son, Jarrell (who I also adore) played baseball for my husband. Niki went out of her way to be kind to me and would even hold Peach for me so that I could actually watch an inning without having to sing baby shark or be spit up on.
Something about her friendship just makes you feel like you have known her forever. There is a reason everyone knows her, that woman is not afraid to talk to people she does not know.
Luckily for me even though her son graduated from LCC, Niki resurfaced in my life when she took a job working as a youth officer for our department, and I can tell you it absolutely suits her. She connects with youth in an impactful way and is not afraid to tackle difficult cases, often spending her own money and resources to help kids out where she can.
With the onset of Covid 19, Niki was also tasked to help with a million boards, testing, contact tracing, and the woman did it all, still helping with grants, and helping out with wildfires, evacuations, coordinating meals and breaks for first responders in the evacuation zones, etc. Niki is quickly becoming our person that just fits into a million different roles.
Niki’s heart is just as vast as her talent. I will always remember how she sprang to action when I told her I needed help with the suicide prevention walk. This lady came in three weeks before the event and completely organized the food and secured hundreds of dollars worth of donations for the event.
This woman has grown to be a definite part of my Susanville family. She is embedded in the Avilla family and we are lucky to have her because she is and will always be, one of the reasons I love the place we live.
