Public safety-led program takes 70 kids on special ride
Seventy third-fifth grade students from Gilmer County were able to do Christmas shopping alongside public safety professionals as this year’s Shop With a Hero program commenced Saturday, Dec. 11.
The program, led by the Ellijay Police Foundation and funded by donations from local businesses and individuals, culminates each year with a group shopping trip to the local Walmart. A parade of public safety vehicles escorted the busload of children from Ellijay Elementary School to their destination.
“It’s just fun to do. It’s really cool to have some one-on-one time with these kids and talk to them,” said Ellijay Police Capt. Ray Grace, who’s helped coordinate the program since its inception here.
Representatives from numerous local and state public safety agencies, most of them dressed in uniform, shopped with children selected to participate in the program, which targets kids who need a little something special during Christmastime.
“They are selected for a multitude of different reasons, and it’s not just for less fortunate families. We want it to be a mentor-type program that shines some light and attention on the kids,” said Renea Green, a GBI agent from Gilmer and another of the program’s founding coordinators.
The number of local children who were able to shop with a hero not only increased this year, so did the span of agencies that participated, confirmed Grace.
All local city and county police and fire agencies took part, as did representatives from the FBI, GBI, Georgia State Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the area District Attorney’s Office and U.S. Postal Inspectors, noted Grace and Green.
This was the first year federal agencies other than military branches participated, Grace said.
“We had such great community involvement, which is a huge part of this program. We had some heroes who drove from over an hour away to assist,” Green said.
“This year, we not only had all the pubic safety (agencies) within the county step up to join this program, we also had the Optimist Club, Walmart, the Junior Board of Directors at United Community Bank and the Cartecay Baptist Men’s Group (help in some way),” Grace added.
Each child received a $150 to use during the shopping trip, Grace noted. Of that, $75 is usually spent on clothing and the rest for other purchases including toys.
“With the supply chain problems this year, we told our guys to think outside the box. If they couldn’t get $75 worth of clothes, they could spend it on whatever (else), Grace said.
Now in its third year, Shop With a Hero continues to grow and improve each time out, confirmed Green.
“We try to do it bigger and better every year,” she said.
“We start maybe a couple of months into the school year. We go talk to the counselors, and they get us a list back the week before Thanksgiving,” Grace added. “There may be a couple of kids (that public safety employees) run across, who we include. This year, we had a couple of kids who just moved to the county and COVID pretty much kept them out of school. It was a chance to get them out in the public.”
Two new bicycles were raffled at the Ellijay Elementary School Auditorium, and 90 backpacks donated by the Cartecay Baptist Church Men’s Group were also distributed that same Saturday, Green said. A new activity where donated gently-used toys went home with young SWAH participants with siblings also debuted this year, she added.
The program also makes room for other grade levels, Grace noted. Secret Santa gifts were provided to 10 middle schoolers, while hundreds of bags of food were donated to the high school food pantry. The program also provided 20 Christmas dinners for high school students and their families.
Another upside of Shop With a Hero is the opportunity for public safety personnel to reach out and make a lasting impression on local children, Grace noted.
“In third-fifth grade, they all want to be something, but you never know what’ll happen. We did have one little girl who really wants to be an FBI agent, so it was cool that she got to meet a true FBI agent,” he said.
Green said “it really is like a Hallmark movie” when the whole thing comes together.
“It’s a true feel-good moment for everybody. I saw so many smiles on not just the kids’ faces, but our heroes, as well,” she added.