Tradition, tradition!
Shop With a Cop continues in spite of the pandemic
TEXARKANA, Texas — Not even COVID-19 could steal away the Christmas cheer experienced by 100 kids as their parents wheeled them to the west side of Southwest Center for some holiday shopping Saturday morning.
Although this didn’t sound like a place to shop, Texarkana, Texas, police and firefighters along the with Texas Department of Public Safety troopers still wanted to bring the season’s joy to children, as they have done for more than two decades with their annual Shop With a Cop Christmas Celebration.
This year, rather than holding the event at the local Target department store as in years past, the police department took the necessary COVID-19 precautions and arranged to meet youngsters and their parents at a drivethrough set up at the center in the 3200 block of U.S. Highway 67.
“We knew that with the COVID situation we would have a difficult time holding this event like we’ve done with Target in years past,” said Texas-side Police Department Public Information Officer Shawn Vaughn. “So what we decided to do this year was to collect the $100 Christmas gift wish lists from each child who was selected to participate this year by their caseworker (with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services).”
Vaughn said officers took the wish lists, (submitted by children ranging from age 4 to 14), to Target and shopped to buy the $100 worth of items that each child placed on the wish list. He said that each of the $100 gift certificates received financial backing from donations made by local banks, civic organizations and individuals.
“If there were some cost overruns, the officers took
care of it out of their own pockets,” Vaughn said.
Beside being able to have the children pick up the Christmas gifts, this year’s event also featured a supply of freshly baked pizzas delivered at the drive-through site by Domino’s Pizza.
Prior to this year, the Shop With A Cop traditional ceremony included a motorcade of police cars, along with a line of police officers standing at one part of the store while a line of children stood at the other side, Target Store Director Lisa Sangalli said
“From there, the kids would pair off with one of each of the police officers and go shopping,” she said. “Up until this year, the Shop With a Cop get-togethers were always held on the first Tuesday of each December. This year is the first year we’ve ever held it on a Saturday.”
For his part, Vaughn said this year’s event held special meaning for him because of an 11-year-old girl name Addison who requested a violin for Christmas.
“This is something we couldn’t find at Target, so we had to send out a special request — but we found one,” he said. “Being able to fulfill a request like this is very heartwarming.”