Iowa police officers spread Christmas joy by shopping with kids

Taking a day to go shop for Christmas presents at a big box store is a common holiday tradition for many families, but spending the extra money during the holiday season is not always feasible for everyone.

That’s why — along with the potential for building lasting relationships — police departments across the country participate in “Shop with a Cop” events, where officers are paired with children whose families need support over the holidays. Thanks to donations, the officers take the kids shopping for gifts and necessities.

“It’s just a really fun event for the officers and the kids, and the connections we make. I’ve had kids reach out to me and remember me five or six years afterward,” said Sgt. Kevin Bailey, with the Iowa City Police Department’s outreach division. “It’s just fun to visit with them and ask what their experience was. I think it’s good for everybody.”

The Iowa City Police Association hosted its shopping event this year, called Holiday with Heroes, on Dec. 12. The event included between 25 and 35 kids and several officers who volunteered during their time off. The officers take the kids to a store and let them buy a few gifts for themselves, as well as shop for others on their list.

The Iowa City event is funded almost entirely by an annual donation from the Iowa City Masonic Lodge, and supplemented by funds raised over the years by the Iowa City Police Association, Bailey said.

“The Masons have been very generous to the Iowa City Police Association and Shop with Heroes,” Bailey said. “Their mission is clothing, so it segued right into Shop with Heroes because so many of these kids need coats and clothes first, and then we still try to get a gift. So it went along with their mission to fund us and then we’re able to shop with the kids and have that connection with the kids and their family.”

The kids who participate are chosen with help from partners like Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, neighborhood centers and other groups that can help the police association identify families who aren’t getting help from other sources.

“What’s sad for us is, we typically take 25 to 30 kids every year, and there are dozens more that we would like to take. We just don’t have the funding for it,” Bailey said.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department hosted a similar event Dec. 4, which the department calls Santa Cop. The Cedar Rapids department has an event called Shop with a Cop at the beginning of each school year, in which kids are able to purchase school necessities with officers.

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The Santa Cop event in Cedar Rapids focuses on purchasing necessities, like winter clothing and school supplies, with the kids rather than toys, according to Mike Battien, the Cedar Rapids public safety spokesperson.

There were 125 kids helped during the Santa Cop event, 72 of whom were able to go shopping with police officers Dec. 4. The other 53 kids received gifts from officers at other times before or after the event.

The event is funded through the Cedar Rapids Protective Charity, which receives funding from public and officer donations. A good chunk of the charity’s funds come from the police department’s No Shave November and No Shave December campaigns, according to Battien. In November and December, participating officers make a donation to the protective charity and grow out their beards.

“Shop with a Cop and Santa Cop, those are the two big ones for the year. Nearly every officer in the police department somehow participates, so it’s a pretty big deal,” Battien said.

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