The Berrien County Sheriff’s Department has been able to provide Christmas gifts to 21 children in five families this year with its Shop with a Cop program.
Department Lieutenant David Zizkovsky tells us deputies took the kids on a shopping trip at Walmart in Niles on Saturday morning.
The Shop with a Cop program has been around for several years.
“Because there are a lot of people in need in our community, some of these people have been identified by officers, mainly our school resource officers,” Zizkovsky said. “They said that these families are in some need and we wanted to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to have a wonderful Christmas.”
Zizkovsky says the young people were selected from multiple communities.
“There were actually quite a few from the Niles area. The sheriff’s department, we have our school resource officers over at the Bertrand school, and then we also had quite a few from the Boys and Girls Club of Benton Harbor.”
Students from New Buffalo were also served. They all got to race through Walmart Saturday before the store opened and spent $150 gift cards. Their families were also given holiday food baskets that contained a HoneyBaked Ham, a pie, and fresh fruit.
Several sponsors make the Shop with a Cop program possible each year, and the sheriff’s department thanks all of them.
Below are the sponsors:
Niles Area Walmart
Subway at the Niles Wal-Mart
Michiana Christian Embassy
Milano Pizza of Niles
Friends for Berrien Springs
LECO Corporation
Antibus Scales & Systems
Wightman Architecture & Design
RedBud MX – Redbud Recreation Inc.
Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Unit
Santa Vin Haislip
Numerous Anonymous Donations.
