7-year-old Louisiana girl comes to Chicago to hug officers

FOX 32 NEWS - A little girl with a big heart is on a mission to show her gratitude and appreciation to police officers from coast to coast.

And on Monday, that mission to hug a police officer in every state in the country brought Rosalyn Baldwin to Chicago.

The 7-year old says God told her to embrace her heroes.

Rosalyn Baldwin, who’s from Louisiana, has come to Chicago with a single purpose -- to embrace members of the city's police department. It’s a goal she set for herself soon after three police officers in Baton Rouge were murdered in an ambush attack.

“She says they're killing my heroes, they're killing everybody's heroes, she said something needs to happen, some love needs to go out there,” said mother Angie Baldwin.

Angie Baldwin says soon after the ambush, her daughter began asking questions about the police and about the dangers they face every day in the line of duty. Rosalyn soon became consumed with the idea of reaching out with a message of love.

"She said momma I prayed and God told me to hug all the officers, I said in the whole world? Okay, can we maybe send some postcards? But then I realized I was lessoning her mission and I shouldn't do that,” Angie said.

For Rosalyn to complete her labor of love, she needed to be taken out of school and then there was the question of money. How was her family going to pay for her to travel to every state in the country? But then something happened, her mission became a movement. She got her own website and a GoFundMe page to help offset the costs.

Rosalyn now draws a crowd everywhere she goes. She’s become somewhat of a rock star with police departments, striking not only new friendships but fond memories along the way.

"Every place we've went to there's been some amazing people, amazing officers, amazing wives and children that come up to us and they tell us what she means to them and when she's one on one with them, you feel it,” Angie said.

More than a dozen states down, Rosalyn and her family hope to visit the rest, including Alaska and Hawaii, between now and the end of next year.