Kids Shop With a Cop in Time for Christmas

On December 19, Comanche Nation Police Department hosted its annual Shop with a Cop. The event invited foster children to dinner and a 150-dollar shopping spree at Walmart.

Community Police and D.A.R.E. Officer Mary Greniewicki said it’s not for her; it’s for the kids.

“I mean, it's awesome. It's not for me, it's for the kids,” she said. “So, making them happy is the best thing.”

Greniewicki said Qdoba donated the meal, Walmart was able to go through her funds to get money for the kids and Soldiers Xpress donated the bus and driver.

The children got a police escort to Walmart and picked out the items they wanted for Christmas.

Some of those included pet supplies, art supplies, clothing, books and toys.

Meanwhile, the police officer they were paired with kept track of their spending and even helped make tough decisions.

Patrolman Clinton Corley said his favorite experience was watching the kids pick the toys they wanted. He was assigned to two kids for the event.

“The boy that I had, he picked out this monster truck toy that he had been wanting for quite some time. Every time he went to the store, they actually didn't have it, so as luck would have it, we went there today, and that toy was there, and actually, that was the only one left. So that just made his day,” Corley said. “And then the little girl actually, it was a small plush-like toy, but she fell in love with it. She actually named it and all.”

The girl named her plush toy Sparkle.

According to Corley, these events give kids a better outlook on police officers.

“It breaks that stigma that all cops are bad. Kids should want to run to law enforcement officers, so this gives us the opportunity with us to bond with the kids,” he said. “The kids know that if they need us, they can always come to us.”

Corley said that growing up in rural areas of South Carolina and Florida, he didn’t see any cops who looked like him.

“So, there's always a saying that I've lived by, it's ‘Be the change that you want to see.’ So here I am today,” he said.

While shopping, the children also saw two mascots and gave them several hugs.