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2024 Shop with a Cop wraps up most successful ever

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DENTON – The aisles of Denton Walmart were merry and bright as nearly 30 kids got to “Shop with a Cop” Saturday morning, Dec. 14.

The children, all from Caroline County, partnered with a member of the Caroline County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #118 for a Christmas shopping spree at Walmart. Afterwards, they rode on the front seat of police cruisers, blaring sirens and flashing lights to North Caroline High School to wrap presents and snack on pizza and cookies.

Thirty uniformed FOP members showed up smiling for the festive opportunity to give back to the community and foster friendships with the youngsters.

Lead organizer of the event was Sgt. Amber Hafer, supervisor of the Criminal Investigations Division of the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s a family thing,” Hafer said. Officers “bring their spouses, they bring their kids.”

While the Optimist Club started the event several years ago, the FOP took over in 2022. Thanks to generous sponsors, each child’s shopping budget has increased from $100 in 2022 to between $300 to $350 this year. Youngsters came with lists; they knew beforehand that they were to shop for family members first, then buy something for themselves, if there was money left over.

Hafer praised the sponsors and donors who contributed to the $16,331 that was raised. “Between last year and this year, we were able to up our donation amount per child,” she said. “So it's been very, very positive and very good.”

“No Shave November,” sponsored by the CCSO, allowed officers to grow beards in exchange for raising donations.

“It's a good opportunity,” Cpl. Mark Hopkins of CCSO said of Shop with a Cop. “We see so much bad, so it's fun to just come out to Walmart today and know that it's all gonna be good.”

Hopkins has been participating in Shop with a Cop for seven or eight years. His wife Mikayla and their seven-month-old son Lee joined in the fun. “It's cool that a lot of these kids aren't like, ‘I want this and I want that.’ Most of them are, ‘Well, my mom needs this. My dad needs this, my sister wanted this.’ And that’s every year,” Hopkins said.

While parents and guardians don’t accompany their kids on the shopping trip, one mom accompanied her son, who is non-verbal, along with Deputy First Class Gordon Geesey and his wife Yolanda Mayers, who is with the Secret Service.

“This year, we were so far from our limit, we said, ‘Mom, you know, this is Christmas for you, as well for the whole family. What do you need?’” Geesey said. “And she kind of hung her head. She goes, ‘I really need a set of pots and pans.’”

“I almost cried,” Mayers said.

“So, we got her a set of pot and pans and then a matching set of kitchen knives,” Geesey said. “Now the whole family will have a good Christmas, so it worked out very well.”

Representing the FOP were law enforcement officers from the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office; Denton, Federalsburg and Greensboro Police Departments; Maryland State Police; Maryland Department of Natural Resources; and even the Secret Service. CCSO K-9 Kazi joined in the fun and charmed youngsters and adults alike.

Brenda Walls, who owns Ridgely Pharmacy, has been involved with the event for years. “It’s something I love doing and love being part of this group of amazing people.”

“I love to watch the spark in these children's eyes,” Walls said. “And it’s an opportunity for them to experience positive interactions with our police officers, who are taking their time to help bring a great Christmas to them.”

Other helpers – including Santa and the Grinch – pitched in to bag gifts for the trip to the NCHS cafeteria in two dozen cruisers.

At the gift-wrapping party, students earned service learning hours by helping wrap gifts and serving pizza, snacks and cookies.

In the cafeteria, NCHS students Marcella and Maddy Cordrey were helping wrap presents. Their mom Dawn Cordrey works for the CCSO.

“You get to see what you can do to make a difference in people's lives,” Marcella said. “And I feel like a lot of people don't know this is a really big fundraiser for these kids, and these workers here enjoy it so much.”

“It's a great experience, but I wish a lot more people knew about it,” she said.
NCHS head varsity basketball coach BJ Miller encouraged his team to earn service learning hours. “Some don’t need them, but they came anyway,” he said.

Miller said his team wanted to wear Christmas gear, but he was sticking with his red sweatshirt with words alluding to the movie Die Hard, “which is a Christmas movie,” he said.

“I will die on that hill,” Miller said, laughing. “You can print that: Die Hard is a Christmas movie.”

As parents and guardians lined up to pick up their kids, volunteers handed out stuffed stockings to each one, while the youngsters posed for photos and their sacks full of Santa’s presents.

“It’s good for the kids,” Kara Greene of Preston said. Her daughter Zamirah rode in the cruiser with Denton Police Lt. Jamie Secrist. “She was scared at first, but then she said, “I’m riding with a cop.’”

Zamirah giggled and said simply, it was “good.”