Shop With A Cop: Making spirits bright

Last Saturday, 17 children and a bundle of emergency responders gathered on a chilly December morning at the H.E. Gritman Senior Center for the Shop With A Cop program, a holiday fixture in Ritzville.

Shop With A Cop allows underprivileged children in the community, who may also have a troubled family life, to partner with law enforcement to shop for Christmas gifts at local businesses for themselves and their family members.

The annual event is coordinated by Ritzville Police Chief Dave McCormick, and he says he modeled the Ritzville Shop With A Cop program after Othello's program about 20 years ago, when they invited Ritzville children and law enforcement to participate in their program.

"It's tough to take your folks and your kids that far, so we started our own program here," said McCormick.

Each year, McCormick receives a list of children's names that are compiled from a variety of sources in the community.

"I get a list of kids who would most benefit from the time with the police, and from having Christmas presents bought for them and their families that may not otherwise be able to have a good Christmas with presents," said McCormick.

McCormick adds that the community and local businesses have always been very supportive in raising donations so that the program can continue. That includes donations from some individuals who wish to remain anonymous.

There were enough donations this year that McCormick was able to purchase 16 gift certificates at Pretty Good Grocery and Harvest Foods. The gift certificates are provided to the families of the children participating in the event, and also to families that weren't able to be included in this year's program.

This year's program was expanded to include more than just Ritzville Police Department and Adams County Sheriff's Office personnel. The Ritzville Fire Department made a $1,000 donation that was procured by the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce and had a couple of firefighters partnering with children on Saturday morning. EMT's were also on hand to help out, as they have done in years past.

For McCormick, Shop With A Cop is important because of what it can do to brighten a family's spirits during the holidays, as well as form bonds between the children and emergency responders that are participating.

"Each child gets an opportunity to bond with an emergency responder," said McCormick. "They remember you, they see you, they'll holler at you on the street ... Those bonds will last--I don't want to say a lifetime--but it's really important to these families and these kids. And when you have to go to their house for unpleasant things, the kids remember you."

When the program began on Saturday morning, the children and the emergency responder they were paired with mostly made their way to Ritzville Drug, who offer discounts to the Shop With A Cop shoppers, to hunt for gifts. Items that were seen being purchased included a Mr. Potato Head, dolls, a Monopoly board game, stuffed animals, other toys and food items.

After the shopping spree, the pairings headed back to the senior center to wrap the presents they had gotten for the children's family, as they sought to make this year's holiday season one to look back fondly on.