Making the rounds
Calendars help police raise funds for the Toy Patrol program
Usually, when children in our part of the world envision the character who gives them gifts at the end of the year, he wears a red coat and drives a sleigh with reindeer. This December, several children in Cabot will instead receive gifts from blue-clad, badge-wearing officers driving patrol cars as Cabot police officers take an evening to switch from traffic patrol to toy patrol.
The C.O.P.S. — Cabot Officers Playing Santa — Toy Patrol program is in its third year in the northern Lonoke County city, said Sgt. Keith Graham, Cabot Police Department public information officer. Through this program, children from area schools get a chance to go Christmas shopping with officers.
“It breaks down that wall for kids and cops,” Graham said. “They see something positive, and they see that we’re normal people.”
Last year, more than 20 officers and more than 30 children participated in the shopping trip, and Graham said he has noticed the officers get excited about the event as the holiday season approaches.
“Everything’s been positive so far,” he said. “Our officers look forward to it all year long.”
The Cabot Police Department partners with the Cabot Public Schools to make the event possible. Graham said the counselors at the elementary schools choose two students to be a part of the Toy Patrol, and they will all go shopping at the Cabot Walmart Supercenter on Dec. 16.
“We’re not involved in choosing the kids,” Graham said.
On the day of the Toy Patrol event, the children will get a chance to pick out three gifts. One gift will address a need, like shoes or clothes. One gift will be for someone else. The third gift can be anything. Sometimes that third gift is something the child wants, but in past years, many children have utilized that third option to buy a second gift for someone else.
This year, the Cabot Police Department set a goal of raising $5,000 for the program. There have been fundraisers and individual donors, and Graham said some contributions started last year at the event.
“We’ve had people in Walmart handing us money for the next year’s Toy Patrol,” he said.
This summer, the idea was formed to utilize material from another school outreach program to help fund the Toy Patrol.
Graham said that late last school year, the elementary schools held an art contest
in the fourth-grade classes. Originally, the contest was not directly related to the Toy Patrol program but did connect students to the Police Department.
“The art teachers in the schools got all the kids to make a drawing of what they thought the Cabot police cars were like,” he said.
Businesses in the community donated prizes such as bowling passes and puzzles, and two winners from each elementary school were picked for their drawings.
After the art contest was over, officers in the department brainstormed on how to raise money for the C.O.P.S. Toy Patrol. That is when the idea to incorporate the students’ drawings with a fundraiser was formed.
“We decided over the summer that we wanted to make a calendar,” Graham said. “We thought, ‘What better way to do that than to use the kids’ drawings?’”
The C.O.P.S. Toy Patrol Calendar, now on sale at several locations in Cabot, features art from area students. Each month shows a new drawing and includes the name of the artist who produced it.
Graham said the Police Department is planning on doing another art contest in the spring, and he anticipates another great round of submissions from the city’s children.
“It is just awesome to see what the kids can do,” he said.
Calendars are available at three locations in Cabot: Spiritual Gifts at 623 W. Main St., Express Printing at 201 E. Main St. and Ultimate Image Salon and Spa at 1103 S. Pine St., Suite A.
Each calendar costs $7. All of the proceeds from the calendar sales goes directly to the C.O.P.S. Toy Patrol program.