Officers give 12 Othello kids an unforgettable Christmas

OTHELLO — Othello’s annual Shop With a Cop event occurred on Saturday at Walmart. The Othello Police Department has hosted this event for 16 years. The officers involved volunteer their personal time to shop with the kids for Christmas. Donations fund the program.

Selected by their elementary schools and approved by their parents, children from the community were introduced to their new law enforcement shopping buddies at the Othello Police Station late Saturday morning.

After being introduced and paired with the officers, the kids headed toward Time Out Pizza to have some lunch and one-on-one time with their new friends. More than 15 squad cars traveled in a convoy with kids in the passenger seats. Lights and sirens filled Othello’s Main Street with kids on the loud horn saying Merry Christmas.

The officers got to know the kids while they ate. The children talked about their families and what they wanted to get them. Everyone stood up and introduced him or herself and stated what elementary school they were going to or had gone to, including the officers.

Assistant Chief David Rehaume hosted the lunch and thanked everyone for being there. Rehaume asked the kids to say thank you to the Time Out Pizza staff for all the good food and their hospitality. As the employees were walking out to grab the empty pizza pans, all at once everyone in the room yelled, “Thank you!”

“This is where some of the magic, I believe, happens. The officers are interviewing and getting to know the shoppers and their family members. That’s why we do this part,” Rehaume said.

Afterwards, everybody went to Walmart to do some Christmas shopping. The officers circled in unity around the Walmart parking lot, grabbing the customers’ attention with the vehicles’ sirens. Standing outside waiting for the children to come, Santa Claus was in front of Walmart and jollier than ever as the kids met with him and took some pictures.

Walmart store manager Troy Young and his staff clapped and welcomed the kids as they walked through the doors side-by-side with their police friends. Everyone gathered by the photo center and took pictures with Santa. The kids were handed a gift card with a certain amount of money to spend on Christmas presents for their families.

This gives the children the opportunity to enjoy the feeling of giving during the holidays, which they wouldn’t normally have been able to do. The little ones were also able to pick out presents for themselves.

Rehaume said, “One young lady we are shopping for has eight total members of her family living in the household. We will be buying for eight people.” One of the 12 children selected to shop with a cop, 9-year-old Daniel Bunner, had a gift list for his family ready when he showed up to the police station. For his sister, one of the items on the list was an Elsa doll, from the movie Frozen. He was excited and anxious to go shopping cops. Bunner said, “When I grow up, I want to be a cop.”

The aisles of Walmart were packed with police badges and shopping carts full of toys. Deputy Sheriff Eduardo Martinez and Briselda Sanchez were shopping together for some slippers and a bicycle. Officers helped the kids pick out their gifts for the different family members.

When they were done shopping, the officers escort the children to the registers to pay for the basket full of unwrapped Christmas gifts. Sometimes the amount of money for the gifts was higher than budgeted, and officers pulled money out of their own pockets to pay the balance.

After shopping, the cops took the children back to the police station, where volunteer wrappers were waiting to wrap all the presents the officers bought. The night of shopping went as planned. The kids were happy and content to go home with gifts for their families and for themselves.

“This year has been the biggest crowd of people I have seen so far, to come together and do this for the kids,” said Rehaume.