The caravan of emergency vehicles that passed through Ellijay and East Ellijay early Saturday, Dec. 9, was a cause for celebration, not concern.
Thankfully, there was not a serious emergency situation at hand. Instead, the procession led two school buses of Gilmer County third, fourth and fifth graders to the East Ellijay Walmart where they were able to Christmas shop alongside an array of local and area first responders.
The annual Shop With a Hero “parade” is something that many locals have come to expect in the weeks leading up to Christmas, confirmed Ellijay Police Capt. Ray Grace, a coordinator for the Shop With a Hero (SWAH) program.
“We put the kids in the two buses right in the middle of this procession, which goes on for about 2 miles leading them to Walmart,” Grace said. “It was raining on that day, but I saw people on the square who showed up to see it. People in the community know that we do the parade, and they enjoy seeing it.”
This year, 77 students from all three of the county’s elementary schools were selected to take part in the program, which pairs each child with police, fire department or military representatives who guide the shopping trip.
Agencies participating in the fifth annual SWAH included Ellijay Police, East Ellijay Police, Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office, Ellijay Fire Department, Gilmer Fire and Rescue, Life Flight, FBI, DNR, Georgia State Patrol, GBI, the Appalachian DA’s office and the National Guard.
The day began at Ellijay Elementary School (EES), where the kids enjoyed breakfast and other activities, Grace said.
“Santa came in and read them a book. They did some cookie decorating, and Mr. P’s provided breakfast. We also raffled off a couple of bikes for the kids,” he added.
Before any of these fun activities commence at Walmart or EES, school counselors and faculty work behind the scenes to nominate children for the program. It could be that a child is having a tough time in school, or they’ve experienced some type of setback or loss over the year, noted Renea Green, a GBI agent from Gilmer County who’s also a SWAH coordinator.
“We’re looking for the kids who’ve maybe fallen through the cracks,” Green told Gilmer school board members at a recent meeting. “It could be a child who’s recently moved into the community, and they’re having a hard time adjusting. It could be a child whose parents got divorced or a parent lost a job — just any child that a teacher says, ‘Hey, I want to recommend this child and give them something a little more special for Christmas.’ The school system has done a spectacular job every year picking the perfect kids to take part in this.”
In all, 25 kids from each school are chosen for each year’s SWAH, but some additional ones are usually added at the last minute, noted Grace.
“The counselors do 99 percent of all our nominations, but we also have firefighters and police officers who will nominate (more) children for the program,” he added. “We say 75 (at first), but we always end up with a little bit more.”
The Ellijay Police Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit run by a board of civilian leaders, started doing the SWAH program in 2019 with 52 kids taking part that first year. Not only has the number of participating kids grown since then, so has the participation and assistance of various groups in the local community.
“It’s such a blessing to see how this program has grown over the years, seeing the impact its made in the community and the relationships that have been made — not just with the kids, but also with the heroes and the different agencies,” Green said.
“We’ve got a lot more kids in the high school (clubs) that help now,” added Grace. “They helped us last year, and they really stepped up this year to help, which made it all a lot easier for us. The Student Government Association handled all coordination for the stuff we did at the elementary school. The culinary arts group at the high school baked all the cookies for (the program), and the United Community Bank Junior Board served food and came to Walmart in the weeks prior to help us put together food bags for GHS.”
Those bags of nonperishable food, which can be purchased for a low price at Walmart, are donated to the student food pantry at GHS, which can be used by students needing food at home. Other additional outreach done for the program included numerous Christmas dinners for families of GHS students, Secret Santa gifts for several local middle schoolers and backpacks stuffed with school supplies donated by Cartecay Baptist Church.
Funding for each year’s SWAH comes from donations from local businesses, groups and individuals. The purchases made at Walmart are tax-free, so “every dollar that’s raised for the program is spent here on the kids,” Grace said.
“It’s all done by donations,” he added. “A lot of (support) comes from people seeing us do the shopping. A lot of folks will see it, then go to United Community Bank and write a check to the Ellijay Police Foundation. Walmart also does a grant, which they approved for this (program).”
Each child receives a $175 gift card to buy whatever they want within reason, and at least $75 of that goes toward clothing, noted Grace. Plenty of toys are certainly bought throughout the day, but kids choosing to buy other things with their SWAH money often reminds the heroes of the need for this outreach effort, noted Green.
“(Instead of toys), several of the kids wanted to buy just clothes,” she said.