Many Police Department and Walmart have joined together to make Christmas a little more special this year. With the help of a generous donation by our local Walmart Manager Ronnie Gray, Many Police Department is starting the “Shop with a Cop” program, which will take place on Saturday, December 17 at 10 a.m.
“This year will be our first year but we intend to make it annual event.”, said Chief of Police Cheryl Wooley.
“I am very excited for our Walmart store to start this tradition” said Mr. Gray.
The “Shop with a Cop” program, which is a nationwide event, began in 1989 when a small group of officers quite literally passed around a hat and collected money to take a single child ‘in need’ shopping for toys. Each year since then, the program has grown with thousands of kids being served over the past 30 years across the nation. If chosen, a child and a police officer will go to Walmart and shop for toys or other items.
Referrals for the program comes from schools, government agencies, or other charitable groups. When the child is chosen from the referrals, the parents or guardian will contacted with information as to date, time and other details. This first year we will be able to take about 22 children, from ages 6-12 years old, shopping.
Our officers are very excited to participate in this program and we hope to make Christmas a little more special for our community. We have already gotten recommendations and will be contacting the parents in the upcoming week if their child has been chosen.
The Town of Many and the Many Police Department gratefully thank Mr. Gray and Wal-Mart for making this generous donation to help children in the area have a Merry Christmas by shopping with a local cop!