Hundreds of Northwest Arkansas school children will get a holiday treat when they are paired with law enforcement officers and go Christmas shopping this month.
"The kids just love it," said Shari Ogburn, a counselor at Elza R. Tucker Elementary School in Lowell. "It makes my heart warm."
At A Glance
Shop With A Cop
Local law enforcement officials plan to take needy children out Christmas shopping starting in early December. Officials plan to spend between $100 and $250 on each student. Shop With A Cop programs are supported by schools and help families and communities, police and others say.
Source: Staff Report
Shop With A Cop programs across Benton and Washington counties match local, needy children -- children who are homeless, whose families struggle financially or who need mentoring -- with police officers and sheriff's deputies who will take them shopping one on one.
The programs are for "children who need an extra 'wow factor' in their lives," said Ogburn. The idea is to make a fun moment for the children, get them needed items, such as coats, and show them police are not scary, law enforcement officials said.
School counselors and teachers spend months picking which students will go, Ogburn said. They want to pick the children who will benefit most, especially those who need mentors and need to see police in a positive light, said Lea Necessary, school counselor for Grace Hill Elementary School in Rogers.
Children need to know that being a policeman is more than chasing bad guys, Necessary said. Shop With A Cop will provide that positive experience kids and the community need, counselors and police said.
"Police usually deal with people in bad situations," said Derek Hudson, spokesman for the Springdale Police Department. He also organizes Shop With A Cop for the department. "This allows (police) to interact with a family in a positive way."
Christmas Shopping Spree
There are at least six Shop With A Cop-style programs in Benton and Washington counties, and possibly more, police said.
"Every agency in Northwest Arkansas has some form of Shop With A Cop -- even if it's not called that," said John Hubbard, a captain with the Bentonville Police Department.
Many programs have been ongoing for 10 years or more. Each program is different -- while the Springdale Police Department runs its own program, Rogers' program is organized by its Fraternal Order of Police chapter.
How many kids are helped, and how much is spent on each child, varies. In Benton County, deputies plan to spend about $250 per child, said Keshia Guyll, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, in an email. Washington County Fraternal Order of Police plan to spend up to about $120 per child and help 125, said Steven Hulsey, president.
The result: officers in Bentonville, Rogers, Fayetteville, Springdale and Benton and Washington counties shop with at least 360 children a year, and spend thousands of dollars to help needy families.
"It can be very, very time consuming to put something like this together," Hudson said. "But it's worth it."
To buy for that many children, police fund-raise year round, they said.
In Springdale, where about $30,000 was raised this year, fundraising begins early, Hudson said. People can donate for next year's program beginning today, he said. Washington County, which raised $16,000, is also accepting money for next year, Hulsey said.
Raising money takes time and coordination among police, businesses, schools and communities, police said.
The Rogers Fraternal Order of Police hired a telemarketing company earlier this year to help raise funds. The Benton County Sheriff's Office and Bentonville Fraternal Order of Police had golf tournament fundraisers earlier this year, Hubbard and Guyll said. Police also ask for donations from businesses, Hudson said.
Police officers and deputies who go shopping with the children often volunteer their time and their own money, officials said. Without community support, however, the programs wouldn't be possible, according to the Bentonville Fraternal Order of Police website.
The Bentonville Fraternal Order of Police president was out of town and unavailable for comment Thanksgiving week. No one from the Rogers Fraternal Order of Police responded to a message left Monday.
Some programs struggled to raise enough funds in the past, but Shop With A Cop programs seem to be growing, counselors said.
Two Rogers schools where typically only two children are chosen were told this year to pick four, Necessary and Ogburn said. Washington County deputies will shop with about 125 school children from outlying cities, like Elkins and Prairie Grove, up from 110 served last year, Hulsey said.
"If you are there and actually see the joy on these kids' faces for a toy -- or even a coat, necessities we take for granted -- it makes every bit of effort worth it," Hulsey said.
Helping Children, Changing Communities
Schools support programs like Shop With A Cop because it helps children, Necessary said.
"Everybody wants to see happy children," she said.
The programs also help schools, Ogburn said. School administrators feel the program builds relationships that help children, families and communities, said Richard Abernathy, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators.
"Cops sometimes get a bad rap," Abernathy said. "One of the things we always talked to kids about was authority and making sure they didn't fear authority. (Police) are actually here to help us and protect us."
Abernathy said his organization wants to see Shop With A Cop and similar programs expanded to schools statewide.
The programs can change how communities see police officers by letting people see them serving in a different way, Hudson said. Children and families can see police do care, and do more than make arrests, law enforcement officials said.
Children who participate in Shop With A Cop come back to school excitedly talking about meeting a policeman, riding in a police car and buying Christmas presents, counselors said.
"It helps the kids, helps the family and helps the community," Hudson said. "It makes people feel good to see the joy it brings to kids who are a little less fortunate."
In Benton County, where the Shop With A Cop program is intertwined with a mentoring program, the interaction doesn't stop with the shopping event, Guyll said. Deputies plan to take 10 children shopping this year, but children, who deputies mentor all year, will go to Fast Lane Entertainment for an outing, she said.
"A lot of these children, without the Shop With A Cop program, would never experience the feeling of having a new pair of shoes or being able to go to Fast Lane Entertainment and bowl or eat pizza and be a kid," Guyll said. "Some of these kids don't know where they will lay their heads from one night to another."
NW News on 12/01/2014