The annual Shop with A Cop event will take place on Saturday, Dec. 16 where some children in the local area will be given the opportunity to Shop with A Cop for the Christmas holiday. Eligible children are often paired with an officer the morning of the event where they enjoy breakfast from the local McDonalds Restaurant, the breakfast will take place at the USU Eastern Dining Services. The children will enjoy their breakfast before loading up in the patrol cars for an escorted ride down to Walmart to do their holiday shopping.
“Last year was the best year we ever had. We were able to raise a little over $9,000.00 last year that was spread out county wide. We were able to help between 150 to 170 kids last year, which was just amazing. We’ve never had that many that were involved in it and I would love to surpass that. I’ve said it many times in the past, if I could find the funding to do this for every kid in our community, I’d love to do it, but that’s just kind of unrealistic, but I would love if we could surpass what we did last year, that would be amazing,” said Program Coordinator, Sgt. Kelly Maynes. This yearly event is held with the hopes of making the holiday season brighter for the children participating in the program.
This is a chance for the children to get to know law enforcement officers in a different light than maybe they are use to. “That’s one of the things that we really like about this program. Over the years, it’s kind of changed a little bit on how we do things but we’ve tried to make it more of an event, for something special for the kids that are involved with it and for their families. To see kind of a different side of the officers that they get to go with, as well as the community, and they get to be in the spotlight, this is about them, and the things that they get to enjoy around Christmas and it’s just an awesome thing,” said Sgt. Maynes. This event has been going on for many years and the officers enjoy it as much as the children do.
The Shop with A Cop event is open to under-served children in the Carbon County area and all the local law enforcement agencies are a part of the Shop with A Cop event each year. “Every law enforcement agency in Carbon County. So obviously we have the Price City Police, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department, Helper City Police, Wellington City Police, East Carbon City Police, Utah Highway Patrol, and Adult Probation & Parole,” said Sgt. Maynes. Each of these agencies submits a child’s name that can benefit from the Shop with A Cop program.
Unfortunately, this year one of the grants that the program relays heavily on will not be received this year, so the program is hoping that through donations from individuals, families and businesses will help fund the difference this year. “You can make donations through the Price City Utility Office or you can bring them to the Price City Police Department. We will gladly accept all donations that are out there for Shop with A Cop, whether that’s a dollar here and there, or bigger amounts than that. Every cent, every penny, that comes in for Shop with A Cop in turn is funneled right back to these kids that get selected. So the more donations we get, either the more kids we can take or more funds those kids are able to spend,” stated Sgt. Maynes. The program would not be possible without its annual sponsors Walmart, McDonalds, USU-Eastern Dining Services, Price City Utility Office, and Utah Police Civilian Association