CopShop event shines a light on deserving teens
Grade 9 students receive $200 gift card to spend at Marlborough Mall
For many young people taking part in the 12th annual CopShop event at Marlborough Mall on Wednesday, their first stops were to buy presents for others.
A group of 27 teens took part in the event, which pairs Grade 9 students with police officers to spend a $200 gift card at the northeast shopping centre. The students are chosen by their school in recognition of academic performance, leadership skills, volunteering efforts or other achievements.
“It’s just a great acknowledgment that we can offer to them to say, ‘you’re doing a great job, keep it up,’ ” said community resource officer Const. Chris Langham.
“This also helps to bridge that gap to say, yes, we have a role that we play within Calgary and with our job but, at the same time, we’re just regular people.”
Newon Dissee headed to EB Games, accompanied by firsttime CopShop participant Const. Bill Clark. But first on his list was a gift for a friend’s birthday.
Dissee’s friend, Tobi Fadairo, had a similar goal, with a plan to get a gift for his sister. The Bishop Kidd student volunteers with his school’s breakfast program.
“He comes in to school every day early, helps clean, helps the teachers out,” said his shopping partner for the morning, Const. Greg Burnett.
It was Burnett’s fourth year taking part in the Marlborough Mall event.
“You get a personal face-toface and. hopefully, they go back to school and they go, ‘you know what, you can talk to these guys, they’re good guys — we had a lot of fun with them,’” he said.
During her trip around the mall, Kisanet Desta also had a family member in mind.
“I’m looking for the sweater my little brother wanted,” she said during her first stop, as Const. Kerri Mattice helped her look for sizes.
Langham said this is a common gesture during the annual event.
“Even though this is our way of saying, ‘you’re doing a great job,’ we see that sometimes they actually like to buy things for their mom, their dad, their grandma,” he said.
“That all just adds to the whole idea of what CopShop is about, because they’re not thinking about themselves, they’re still thinking about others.”
Even though this is our way of saying, ‘you’re doing a great job,’ we see that sometimes they actually like to buy things for their mom, their dad.