Othello Shop with a Cop looks different, but still provides Christmas cheer
Othello Police Department school resource officer Seth Carlson gives a 2020 Shop with a Cop participant her presents Dec. 22.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald
Othello Police Department school resource officer Seth Carlson (center) gives a 2020 Shop with a Cop participant her presents, and presents for her family. Officer Eduardo Martinez (right) and code enforcement officer Heather Miller (left) helped deliver presents to families Dec. 22.
Officer Martin Garza (center) gies Christmas presents to 2020 Cop with a Shop participants during distribution of the presents Dec. 22.
Othello Police Department officers Eduardo Martinez (front) and Seth Carlson (back) load Cop with a Shop presents for distribution Dec. 22.
OTHELLO — It wasn’t the way Shop with a Cop usually looks, but the Othello Police Department provided some Christmas cheer for local families.
“We have 21 families,” said OPD School Resource Officer Seth Carlson. T
he OPD bought Christmas gifts for about 100 kids, Carlson said, which were delivered to families Tuesday. Families were nominated by teachers, counselors and other community contacts.
The first gifts were delivered just after 8 a.m. by officers in uniform, lights on the patrol vehicles. Of course, there was no school this week, so some kids were still asleep when officers arrived. Others were too shy to come out of the house. But the children smiled as they received their presents.
In any other year, police officers and kids would’ve shared some pizza and gone shopping. But administrative assistant Evelyn Miron said 2020 wasn’t like any other year.
“I don’t even know how to explain it. This year was completely different,” Miron said.
This year, OPD officers contacted the families and talked to the kids.
“It wasn’t as loud and fun, but we still got the reactions for the kids,” Miron said. “We still got the excitement out of it.”
Each child provided a wish list for themselves and their families, and officers and their families volunteered to do the shopping. The program is funded in part by donations, which were up this year.
“We got to double our numbers (of families) because of all the donations we got,” Miron said.
Usually, Shop with a Cop provides more than gifts for the kids, and tradition was maintained in 2020. The donations allowed the OPD to buy a microwave for one family and cooking utensils for another, among other items. The OPD also received a donation of sacks of beans, which were left with families that wanted them.
“The donors are who I want to thank,” Carlson said.
Two groups of officers volunteered to deliver presents Tuesday morning and afternoon, among them Eduardo Martinez.
“I’m actually off the rest of the year, I decided to come in,” Martinez said. “We do this because we see the need in the community.”
