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At a special ceremony at Devonshire Mall on Wednesday, executive director of the Jewish Centre Rabbi Sholom Galperin paid tribute to the officers and invited police Chief Al Frederick to light a candle on the menorah. 

"The message of Hanukkah is to be able to increase light, to be able to show people that there is light in the world and there is good," Galperin said.

"What I know from speaking with police officers is there is always the light that they need to show their people, to help someone in need, to help someone in a crisis and they are sometimes the only light for that individual.

"What better way to be able to honour them and that's why we chose them," he added. 

For the past eight years, the Chabad Jewish Centre has been giving back to the community by supporting a different local charity. They've held toy drives, food drives and raised funds for organizations such as Street Help and Kids Kicking Cancer.

This year, they decided to honour the Windsor police and raise funds for Camp Brombal. The camp, run by Windsor police, gives local youth the chance to attend a summer camp. 

"We are a part of this community so we feel it's important to give back," Galperin said.

Frederick said it was an honour to be recognized by the Chabad Jewish Centre and to participate in the Hanukkah celebrations. He added he was very touched when Galperin approached him about raising funds for Camp Brombal.

"It brings a lot of pride to us as an organization to hear that we are being honoured by the Jewish community," he said. "The rabbi has reached out to us the last couple of years, he's made it a point to come and befriend us. He's tremendously enthusiastic and can't help but inspire and lead people."

Hanukkah — the Festival of Lights — expresses the universal message that ultimately good will prevail over evil, freedom over oppression and light over darkness. 

Along with the celebration there was also holiday food, crafts for the kids and a game of Dreidel, which is Jewish variant on the teetotum — a spinning top.

In its Hanukkah outreach campaign, the Chabad Jewish Centre of Windsor, joins thousands of Chabad centres across the globe in staging similar public displays of the menorah and its symbolic lights. Chabad is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic movement and one of the best known for its outreach.