Imagine being given a $200 gift card to buy Christmas presents for your family. This really did happen on December 16 when 25 kids from Springhill Lake Elementary School participated in Shop with a Cop at the Greenbelt Target store. Sponsored by the Greenbelt Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #32, the annual event, now in its 11th year, focuses on children whose families are facing particular financial needs. Shop with a Cop allows them to have a special Christmas otherwise not possible. Members of the Platinum Rollers Motorcycle Club, biking enthusiasts who support benevolent causes, joined Greenbelt Police Department officers and civilian staff who volunteered their time to make this day one to be remembered. Once antlers were in place and pictures taken, each shopper and their cop took off, going up and down the aisles.
Where do you want to go first was the most frequently-asked question. Clothes and toys quickly filled carts, but retired chief of police James Craze declared, “They all end up here” in electronics, as he helped Dennis look for a video game for him and his dad. Jason got a scarf for mom, hat for dad, and a doll and action figures for siblings. Janae shopped for her mom, twin sister and brother. Language was no barrier to shopping for siblings Franklin and Frances and their partner MPO Carlos Torres, since all spoke Spanish. Shop with a Cop brought out the force, from recruit Colin Giardini, currently two months away from completing the police academy and reporting to Greenbelt, through the ranks to Interim Chief Thomas Kemp.
Giardini was impressed with how his shopper, Steven, selected gifts for his family before getting anything for himself. Officer Konetta Brown experienced her first Shop with a Cop last year and described it as amazing, saying then she would be back. Sure enough, she was here last year, spotted with two youngsters headed toward clothing. Target front-end supervisor Aaliyah Henderson had a set of registers reserved for these special shoppers and a rest area in which to wait for the others to finish. “I always look forward to it,” she said, adding that she is proud of how Target gives back to the community. The day’s next destination was the Greenbelt Fire Department, where Michelle Moo-Young, administrative assistant, organized a lunch that included over 20 box
es of pizzas, donated by Three Brothers Italian Restaurant. Between bites, gifts were wrapped and readied to take home and hide until Christmas. MPO Michael Apgar is president of Greenbelt FOP Lodge #32, which sponsors Shop with a Cop. SGT Scott Kaiser is the department’s program coordinator.