20 Gainesville children 'shop with a cop' for Christmas

Holiday shoppers at Gainesville's Walmart might have been a little worried when they saw a dozen patrol vehicles parked outside the store Friday afternoon, but there was no emergency. Instead, the officers had gathered at the store on Shallowford Road for the 14th Annual Shop with a Gainesville Cop event, where officers spent some time shopping with children who might not otherwise have much of a Christmas.

 

The yearly event is hosted by the Gainesville Police Department and was funded this year by Pilgrim's Pride and Cadillac of Lake Lanier. Each child receives $200 to spend in any way they choose at the store, and the officers help with the shopping process. 

 

"We work with the Gainesville City School System to identify the kids who will participate," said Sgt. Kevin Holbrook, Public Information Officer for the Gainesville Police Department. "Many of them are contacts that officers have made throughout the year, where maybe the officers have visited and have seen the children in need."

 

Case in point was the family shopping with Gainesville Code Enforcement Officer Michelle Castillo. The three young girls, ages 6, 7 and 11, were spending their money on warm clothing.

 

"This particular family...they rent out a single bedroom in a home and they don't have much. It's the three girls in elementary school and their mother - and she has cancer," said Castillo. 

 

In addition to helping the children with their Christmas shopping, Castillo said officers have been working to help the family find a more suitable place to live.

 

"Their house is one of the worst that we've come across, so we're trying to help them because the house is more than likely going to be condemned. For right now, as far as the holidays, we're trying to get them...some warm clothes because they don't have any heat source," Castillo said.

 

Gainesville Police Officer Cory Cummings was supposed to be off duty Friday, but he put on his uniform and met brothers Quincey, 14, and Quintavius, 11, at Walmart so they could "shop with a cop." The boys and Cummings aren't strangers; Quincey had attended the Gut Check program sponsored by the Gainesville Jaycees, so he and Cummings have kept in touch for about two years.

 

"He's cool - he's a nice guy," said Quincey. 

 

Cummings was participating in his first "shop with a cop" event, and even though it was his day off, he said he was glad to push the shopping cart for the boys.

 

"You know, I came in to really spend time with them," Cummings said. "It's not really about me being an officer. It's about me being in the community."

 

Master Police Officer Griggs Wall, on the other hand, has at least five years of "shop with a cop" experience. His shopping partner was 8-year-old Jayzon,who spent his entire budget on one item, a 4-wheeler.

 

"They can buy everything from clothes to toys to items they need for school, and in this case, he just bought one big item. That's what the program's set up for - to use it how they want to use it," said Wall. "With us working in the school systems as SRO's (school resource officers), we see these kids on a daily basis and this is just another way we can help these kids in a time of need during Christmas."

 

Not only does the program put clothes and toys in the hands of needy children, but it also goes a long way in building trusting relationships between the community and the police force.

 

10-year-old Israel had not met the officers who were his shopping partners until he and his family showed up at Walmart Friday, but he made two new friends. 

 

"They're cool. And I'm going to be like them when I grow up."