Kane County ‘Shop with a Cop’ helps hundreds
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Christmas is going to come a little early this week for 225 kids age 12 and younger.
Kane County Sheriff’s Department Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 14 will host its Shop with a Cop program Wednesday at the Walmart in Batavia.
“Some of the kids are shy, but a lot get big smiles on their faces. It’s neat to watch,” said Tom Bumgarner, Kane County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant and president of the FOP Lodge 14.
Lodge 14 began the Shop With A Cop program in 1989 and has helped more than 20,000 kids so far.
Donations from Kane County residents and businesses fund the program, through which a child gets a $50 voucher that must be spent that night.
The limit is $200 per family and recipients are referred by social service agencies and sheriff’s deputies.
“We never have a shortage of people. We always gets tons more than we can help,” Bumgarner said, noting that some kids want to shop with an officer and others don’t. “We’re there to give back.”
The program averages 237 kids a year. Bumgarner stressed that deputies are there to support the children and their families and not there to check people’s backgrounds or serve warrants.
