Don't know why this upset me so.....

17 years ago

I was in Wal-Mart this morning and this must have been Shop with a Cop day. In our area, the police take donations and then just before Christmas a policeman will be assigned a child and given so much money and they will shop together. The child gets to spend so much on her/himself and get something for each member of their family. Well, today, there was a young policeman and the child he was assigned. They were having so much fun. But..this child looked sooo poor. I wish I could have caught up with them and asked him if I could buy her a coat, but they were heading out the door. This is the main charity we donate to each year and all the money goes to a child. I think next year we will donate more. Each child gets $150 and we always donate $75...next year, we're going to do a while child....this just upset me for some reason today....

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Comments (14)

nodakgal
17 years ago
Oh Maybee, bless your sweet heart!! There are so many needy people out there its unreal! Thank you for caring!
wildchild
17 years ago
What a wonderful idea. I think it is perfectly normal for your heart to have been touched. I wish we could have something like that here. Unfortunately our PD is so corrupt they'd probably embezzle the funds. You are so lucky to live where they actually give back to the public.
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glenda_al
17 years ago
You have the true spirit of Christmas.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Maybee!

My once a month luncheon gals decided instead of playing Dirty Santa, we've bring gifts for Toys for Tots! Which we did!
socks
17 years ago
How kind of you to donate so generously. That was one lucky child to be with a police officer who was enjoying the shopping spree. Maybe they were spending your $75. Feel happy you were so generous.

Take care.

Susan
shellm
17 years ago
maybee.......just think that what you do makes a difference to SOMEONE.You cant make a differece to everyone,but what you did helped SOMEONE.I volunteer at an animal shelter most weekends and I felt like I wasnt helping much.But my son and I see how much we can help these animals.And 8 dogs were adopted today,one who we thought might never get a home and have to be put to sleep.Miracles do happen.God bless you.

Shelley
linda_in_iowa
17 years ago
My first year in Iowa, I volunteered with the Shop With a Cop program. The kids had so much fun and the police had extra money to spend. The kid I accompanied went over the $150 mark by about $10-15 dollars and the cops said "Don't worry about it". We have a fantastic local police dept.
gadgets
17 years ago
I used to try to get our office to collect/donate money for local charities in lieu of exchanging gifts. They just couldn't give up their 'fun' though. I'm glad you felt that way, Maybee, we need more like you.

Shirley
jannie
17 years ago
What a wonderful program! Thanks for sharing your observations.
mornie_nm
17 years ago
Maybee, You have been doing great in donating. By all means if you can afford a whole child do it, by next year there may be a whole new crop of poor kids. Something you might want to suggest to your local fire dept or some other organization is the "Koats For Kids" They do that in my area and I am not sure just how it is run but if need be I could find out. They are all new coats and jackets and sized for all ages. That way they could have their Shop with a Cop money for gifts and the brothers and sisters as well as the child could still have a warm coat. Molly
donna37
17 years ago
Gadgets, I know what you mean. I tried that when I was working and told them they could donate a $1 a month and it would add up to quite a bit with the number of employees we had. Some donated willingly and others acted like I was robbing them of a huge pile of money, good grief, a dollar!! They spent more than that on sodas each day. I didn't force them just asked it they would like to do so and majority, maybe, gave 4 or 5 dollars for the entire year, and had a couple that made up the difference.

Our local Family Services sponsor a Share your Christmas each year for needy families. They accept donations of money, new and good used items. A few weeks before Christmas they put an article in the local paper with about 6 needy families listed weekly, no names, giving ages, sex, sizes and some wants the kids have. Families have to sign up ahead of time. You can adopt a family, which many organzations do and which we did a couple of years until it was like pulling teeth to get a few people to part with a little money. Wal Mart puts up a tree with names and wishes of kids on it and you can take one of the lists, buy the items and turn it in at the service desk and they send it to the Share your Christmas sponsor. I have done that a couple of times and probably will again this year.
jannie
17 years ago
In my local Post Office, they put up an Angel Tree with hand-written requests from kids for gifts. The letters are so sad-they don't ask for toys, they ask for stuff like socks and underwear, and they even list the sizes needed. So sad. My office takes about a dozen letters each years and answer them with gifts.
User
17 years ago
We have an 'adopt a family' program here where businesses sponsor a whole family. They get donations from their employees and then take the wish list the family puts together to buy their gifts. They try to buy not only the toys the kids ask for but things they know the family needs. My mother in law was one of these families years ago. She raised her grandson. Not only did they buy him a bunch of toys, he got a beautiful winter coat, mitts, scarf and toque. They bought my mother in law a Kenmore sewing machine because she made a lot of quilts and other crafts for extra cash out of her home. She couldn't believe they did that for her.
Happy_Go_Lucky_Gayle
17 years ago
My Best Friend at work was a Hispanic Man who I often had lunch with. I told him I was having a tough time buying for my Kids Christmas.

He told me something that broke my heart. He came from a Family of 8 kids with a single Mom. He was one of those kids who got a Charity Christmas. He had tears in his eyes and said those years where the happiest Christmas he ever had. He never had a Birthday Present or Birthday Cake.

I told him I would make him a Birthday Cake. He said "No, I'm a Jehovah's Witness." I didn't know they don't celebrate Christmas and Birthdays.

I'm glad his Mother allowed them to Celebrate Christmas at least. I'm sure she welcome all the food.

Gayle
susie53_gw
17 years ago
I couple years ago our niece was having a difficult time. She has 4 kids and a bum of an ex husband that lives with his elderly mom and doesn't see the need to work to support the kids. It was our turn to host the family Christmas so I asked each family to bring a little to help. It was amazing what she ended up with. It was so wonderful to give to her. We did not tell her Mom and Dad and it was a huge surprise to them, too. We all cried.. What a wonderful holiday it was for all.

Susie

Don't know why this upset me so.....

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