A global pandemic won’t be putting a stop to a tradition that gives 25 students the opportunity to shop for Christmas presents for their families.
Shop with a Cop usually pairs a student with a police officer, allowing both to spend the day together and get some Christmas shopping done.
This year, students won’t have that same opportunity.
“(They won’t get) to see what it’s like to be a police officer and the same for the police officers, they won’t have that exact same experience getting to spend a day with these great kids who have lots of questions and they’re always so interested in what policing is all about,” Prince Albert Police spokesperson Charlene Tebbutt said.
Tebbutt said the event can’t include any in person events. Students sat down with teachers and resource staff to make a list of what they wanted to get for their family members from Canadian Tire’s online store.
Canadian Tire employees received the lists on Tuesday and will be packaging the orders.
“They’re checking all the lists twice to make sure that these children get whatever they need, whatever they’ve asked for because these are kids who are buying gifts for their loved ones who might not have had that opportunity.”
The gifts will be dropped over the course of a few days next week. Tebbutt said officers will drop off the presents at the front of the school or in the foyer and step back onto the sidewalk to maintain distance.
“However we need to work this, we’re gonna make sure Shop with a Cop happens in 2020. We wanted to make sure that this event wasn’t cancelled because there’s so many kids in the community that we’d like to help at Christmastime.”
The five participating schools are Princess Margaret Public School, King George Public School, Vincent Massey Public School, St. John Catholic School and St. Catherine Catholic School.
Students each had $100 to spend on gifts, which comes from donations in the community.
High Noon Optimist Club donated $750, and Prince Albert Police Service is also contributing to the event.
Canadian Tire covers the taxes of all items purchased so students don’t have to worry about going over their limit. McDonalds is providing coupons to all the students so they can still get a happy meal, a staple of Shop with a Cop. Old Dutch Canada is also throwing in bags of chips for the students.
Some sponsors who’ve contributed in previous years weren’t able to this year due to funding shortages.
“(Crime stoppers) usually (does contribute) every year but this year has been tough for donations and funding organizations so they weren’t able to help us this year but we are certainly grateful for all that they’ve done for us in past years and I think they do hope that they’ll be able to once again support this event,” Tebbutt added.
She added she won’t turn down other donations, but understands it’s been a tough year financially for many organizations.
Prince Albert Catholic School Division director of education Lorel Trumier is happy Shop with a Cop was able to continue.
“That’s pretty cool and exciting and it is a long history of that and our police services have been awesome at continuing to support that as well as some of the local supports such as Canadian Tire. We are very pleased about that,” she said.
Tebbutt also expressed gratitude for staff members involved in Shop with a Cop.
“We couldn’t have done it this year without the help from the teachers, the schools, the principals, the whole school division supporting this,” She said.
Tebbutt said students didn’t ask for anything for themselves, only for their family members.
“When you listen to the stories from some of these schools and some of the children and what they’ve been through this year, it’s really heartwarming to know that the police service can participate in a small way in making their Christmas it a little bit better.”
