Almost every good childhood memory involves wrapped presents beneath the Christmas tree, the anticipation of Santa’s footsteps on the roof and a glimpse of the magical sleigh against the face of the Moon.
But for some kids, a Christmas morning without presents or even a decorated Christmas tree is simply a brutal reality. In other words, Dec. 25 is like any other day.
Which is why Dec. 12 will be an early Christmas miracle for 112 area kids, when Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn and a number of deputies help these selected tots shop for toys during the fourth annual “Shop With a Deputy.” During the program’s first year, fewer than 40 children participated.
The event takes place, rise and shine, at 7 a.m. Saturday inside the Carthage Wal-Mart. Without this service, every single one of these kids would, more than likely, wake up to a sad Christmas morning.
“It’s a bit of a double-edged sword,” said Corporal Matt Smith, who is spearheading this year’s program.
By saying that, he meant the current economic hard times have bumped the numbers of kids recommended to participate in the program to an all-time high. On the other hand, this just means more kids will be happy kids come Christmas morning.
“A lot of the kids we take with us shopping, they come from families that have lost jobs or face bad economic times.”
Each child is given $100 to spend on what they please. Clothes, bikes, toys, video games — you name it, they can buy it. Most of the children are from Jasper, Avilla and Sarcoxie school districts, Smith said.
“We have a really good time.”
Smith said they tell everyone involved with the program, particularly those chaperoning one of the kids around the store, to keep their emotions in check, and to give 100 percent of their attention to the child.
Only later, during debriefing once the shopping spree is completed, do the emotions come bubbling to the surface.
“There’s a lot of teary-eyed people in the room,” Smith said. “It never fails.”
That’s because the kids — which range in school grades from kindergarten to sixth grade — will often put aside their own wants to buys toys for their siblings, for their dad or for their momma.
Just watching them sacrifice themselves like that, at such a young age, can stop the heart.
“We just try to encourage them to buy things for themselves… (but) you see them doing that, buying items for” other family members living in the home. Usually it’s the child from a family that has almost nothing “that are trained to buy for everyone else.”
Sheriff Dunn recently wrote in a press release about the event: “This is indeed a worthy cause; not only do the children get to buy gifts for themselves and their loved ones, but they also get to spend time with the law enforcement officers and are able to build a trusting relationship with them.”
The children will be shopping with uniformed officers as well as civilian employees of the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, local police departments and Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Santa will be there for all to enjoy and we will be having some special visitors as well.
