Police surprise shoppers with gift cards
Grace Bulman’s jaw dropped when a stranger handed her a $10 gift card at Lansdowne Place Monday.
She and her friend Hannah Woodside were approached by Jeff Chartier shortly after they walked through the mall’s doors.
Chartier is the president of the Peterborough Police Association. It represents 188 city police members, both civilian and sworn, in lieu of a union.
As an act of kindness for the holiday season, association members decided to bring a little cheer to community members by giving them some extra spending money.
The association purchased 100 gift cards, valued at $10 each. Then they handed them out to shoppers at the mall Monday evening.
Bulman said she never would have guessed Chartier was about to give her a gift card.
“I didn’t expect it at all. I thought he was just coming up to talk to me,” said Bulman.
Woodside was taken aback by the generosity - though she quickly knew where she’d be putting the money.
“I’m going to spend it on me,” Woodside said with a chuckle.
Some shoppers raised an eyebrow as association members approached them, wondering what the catch was. “I think initially they maybe thought we were trying to get them to buy something for us, but we were giving away some holiday cheer,” Chartier said.
It didn’t take Melodi Vyn long to figure out there were no strings attached.
“Pretty quickly I realized it was just generosity and that’s really sweet,” said Vyn with a smile.
Vyn’s three kids, Desmond, 9, Ivy, 7, and Anneke, 5, also got gift cards.
Vyn, Desmond and Ivy planned to spend their money on gifts, while Anneke hadn’t made up her mind yet.
Within 20 minutes, the $1,000 was gone.
The association typically uses the funds to buy Christmas presents for member’s kids, handing them out at their Christmas party.
But this year, Chartier said they wanted to give back to the community, following in the footsteps of other police associations.
And it was well received. “I think people were pleasantly surprised at receiving a token at this time of year from the Peterborough Police Association,” Chartier said.