A different kind of charge comes with Shop with a Cop

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A different kind of charge comes with Shop with a Cop

Around Osceola

Wednesday, 22 December 2010 00:00

By Brian McBride
Associate Editor
The smiles were infectious inside the Walmart, 4444 W. Vine St., Kissimmee, Dec. 16 as they waited for the Shop with a Cop program to begin. And that was just the law enforcement officers.
Fifty area school children filed into the store at about 9 a.m. ready to spend an $85 gift card provided by Walmart, which sponsors the program. Each was paired with a Kissimmee Police Department officer and off they went to spend the money on what they wanted.
“For us, it’s just a thrill to watch the kids and the excitement in their eyes,” Chief Fran Iwanski said.
The students were chosen by their respective schools based on their financial case.
“They are in very dire need,” Public Information Officer Stacie Miller said.
In fact, some of the students in the past were instructed to use the money to buy groceries. But that’s not how the program is set up, Miller said. Officers steer them to buy gifts for themselves or family members. Officers have actually stepped up in the past to buy the student the groceries they were expected to get, Miller said.
“It’s very sad,” she added.
Around the store, it was the electronics and the toy departments that saw the most traffic.
“It’s just a great community outreach,” said Police Det. George Torres, who participated in the program. “It’s as much of a blessing to us as it is to them, in my opinion.”
While it likely would have been very easy to spend all $85 on themselves, many children opted to buy for family members. Kissimmee Middle School sixth-grader Naomy Felix plucked the DVD “Twilight: Eclipse” from a shelf and put it in her cart. It was for her 16-year-old sister.
“When I see my family happy, it makes me happy,” she said.
A second Kissimmee Middle sixth-grader, Akia, who didn’t want to give her last name to the News-Gazette, was looking for gifts for her clan, saying “my family is my life.”
“We’re having a hard time right now,” she said. “At least I can get something nice for my family.”
The students also got a little lesson in mathematics, as law enforcement officers, some equipped with calculators, helped them out with just how much they had leftover as they placed items in their carts.
A total of 100 students were treated to the spending spree. Fifty others a day earlier went shopping at the Walmart at 1471 E. Osceola Parkway.
After the outing, the students were bussed to the Kissimmee Police Department, where they feasted on pizza donated by Ci-Ci’s Pizza.
“Christmas shouldn’t be sad for anybody,” Iwanski said. “I wish we could do more events like this throughout the year.”