Deputy Jonathan Ebner pushes the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office slushy machine through the halls of La Pine Elementary after a party on Thursday.  

LA PINE — The fourth graders of La Pine Elementary School had cold hands and slushy-stained smiles by the end of the school day Thursday after a visit from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

They weren’t bothered by its history, either. The slushy machine, which was briefly the subject of satirical posts on a website that lampoons the sheriff’s office, and chronicled in news reports, was a source of joy for roughly 40 elementary school-aged kids.

The slushy machine, which was reported to cost the sheriff’s office $3,115, churned out blue raspberry and cherry-flavored frozen drinks as a reward for the students who raised the most amount of money in the school for a cancer fundraising campaign.

“You can’t quantify the return we’re getting on that investment,” said Capt. William Bailey, a candidate for sheriff.

The cost is a “fractional investment” in a tool that will be used for the next several years, if not a decade, he said.

“If you look at the kids in this room, that is worth the investment,” he said.

The machine has been in use in southern Deschutes County for the past 10 months. In that time, members of the sheriff’s office have done roughly 23 events, including 17 at schools — not just to celebrate fundraising goals but also to provide incentives for attendance, good behavior and academic performance, said sheriff’s Sgt. Kyle Kalmbach. The others have been large-scale community events like the La Pine Rodeo and Frontier Days. That’s translated to roughly 1,000 kids, and around 2,500 people total, he said.

The slushies are an opportunity to foster positive interactions with the community and help share the success of students, Kalmbach said. Plus, if a deputy responds to a call for service and a kid is present, the child might recognize the responding deputy as a familiar face in a time of trouble, he said.

“It’s happened,” said Kalmbach, who was a 14-year teacher for the Bend-La Pine school district before changing careers a decade ago.

The students from two fourth-grade classes merged together in one classroom Thursday, some sitting cross-legged on the floor, all eager to get their hands on a small cup. Sheriff’s deputies also took it as an opportunity to quiz the students on swimming, bicycling and online safety.

Even the school’s principal, Megan Silvey, had her own cherry-flavored slushy.

“This, to me, is a really positive experience,” Silvey said. “They want the best for these kids.”

That’s a relatively recent development. Silvey said previously many students had negative experiences with law enforcement in southern Deschutes County. But things have changed.

“The kids love to see them here,” Silvey said.