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Fostering the spirit of giving...
by Tim Bondy
Mountain Home News
A large number of local law enforcement personnel and about 50 volunteers came together to help bring some extra joy to 124 children and, in many cases, their families during a community event on Saturday.
The 19th annual Mountain Home Shop With A Cop event began at the local Elks Lodge before the sun even came up. Volunteers were there to welcome children whose family's financial situation would likely mean few or, even worse, no Christmas presents under the tree on Dec. 25.
As the children funneled into the lodge, representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Elmore County search and rescue, city police and fire departments, county sheriffs, state police and security forces personnel from Mountain Home Air Force Base were paired up with the children.
Darren Kyle, the owner of the two local McDonald's restaurants, provided meals for the children and their escorts. Served at the lodge, the meals included pancakes, sausage muffin sandwiches and breakfast burritos. With the children and their chaperones starting out as relative strangers at the beginning of breakfast, it became clear they were quickly bonding. Paper airplanes flew in all directions around the lodge with hoots of joy heard by the time the meal was over.
Deputy Shauna Kellerman and seven-year-old Santiago, however, bucked the airplane trend and made paper birds instead.
Police Cpl. Stan Winnings, who serves as one of the coordinators for Shop With A Cop, said the best problem he ran into this year was having more law enforcement volunteers than children.
"If having more chaperones than children in need is our biggest problem, then we're doing pretty good," said Winnings, who has been involved with the program here since the beginning. "We all get involved in this charity for a variety of reasons, but for me the best part is just seeing the smile on all the kids' faces."
After breakfast, local elementary school music teachers Kendra Schroeder and Bobbi Lockett lead the crowd in a rousing, interactive version of the "Twelve Day of Christmas." Everyone in the hall was standing, singing and miming out each verse of the song.
After the caroling wrapped up, Santa and Mrs. Claus made their appearance at the event to wish everyone a Merry Christmas with many of the children getting their first chance to talk to and even hug Santa.
Following Santa's greeting, the children and their chaperones packed into the waiting police cars, fire trucks and emergency vehicles that were parked in front of the Elks Lodge. With sirens blaring and lights flashing, the procession of vehicles made their way to the local Wal-Mart for the big event.
Volunteers and employees lined up next to the store entrance, greeting each child with a steady round of applause. The children and chaperones were then sent out to begin their shopping adventures.
The toy aisles were quickly clogged with children searching for the perfect gifts. A couple of children gave their chaperones their written shopping list, but most had their list only in their mind.
"I really wanted to get my brother a soccer ball... I think he will really like this one," eight year old Brianna said after talking over the choice with her chaperone.
After the excitement and rush of shopping, all 124 children were directed into the warehouse part of the store to get their presents wrapped by volunteers. With eight different wrapping station set up, the process moved along smoothly, if not a little too slowly for some of the young shoppers.
"I can't wait to get the presents for my mom and sister home and put them under the Christmas tree... they're going to flip," 10 year old Jason said.
Tech. Sgt. Robert Wilson, security forces flight chief and Shop With A Cop coordinator at the base, was quite happy with how this year's event turned out.
"We had a great military and law enforcement turnout today... each year we get more and more participating in the program and I hope it continues," Wilson said, adding that he was honored to help children and families in the community.
Mary Morin, a representative with the Shop With A Cop organization in Mountain Home, was especially grateful of how this year's event turned out.
"It went very smooth this year, but it does take everyone in the community to make the Shop With A Cop event a success," said Moren, who added that the money the children receive for their shopping trips comes from community donations.
Morin said there were many people who allowed this year's event to be so special. She gave a shout out to the people from the Mountain Home Idaho High Hopes Special Olympics group.
"The 'High Hopes' volunteers did all the clean-up at the Elks Lodge for us and that allowed all the other volunteers to get over to Wal-Mart to help out with the wrapping," Morin said.