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By Ayanna Eckblad

Children and parents on Tuesday evening gathered in the garden center at Walmart in Albert Lea for the year’s Shop with a Cop event. 

Shop with a Cop is a program in which local police officers and deputies join children and help them buy presents for their families using donated gift cards. 

The event is made possible by a grant given by Walmart.

The event started before the actual shopping event with Walmart giving the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office gift cards of around $150 each.  

The Sheriff’s Office then contacted social workers at area schools. Hawthorne, Halverson, Lakeview and Sibley elementary schools participate as well as Glenville-Emmons and Alden-Conger schools.

The number of children selected each year depends on the number of gift cards available. This year, the office received 29 gift cards, and each school was able to pick out three to four students each.

Jessica Dreyling is the secretary at the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office. She has organized the event for two years, but helped with the event in other capacities for four years. She said the Shop with a Cop event stays fairly consistent, and this year is no exception. 

Dreyling said her favorite part of doing the event each year is seeing the expression on the children’s faces and sharing in their excitement.

Chief Deputy Tim Bennett had similar feelings. 

“It touches them, and it touches myself and everyone that does it,” he said. “Just to be able to give back to some of the community.”

During the event, Bennett said, once the children come and get registered, they are given their donated Walmart gift card, and then it’s time for shopping. He said he talks to the children, and their parents if they are with them, and sees what they are looking for. He said his goal is to make it fun and exciting. He wants to see the children smile and enjoy their time there. 

The children typically pick out a variety of things such as toys for siblings, home goods or clothing for parents and other gifts. Sometimes they even get to pick out a little something for themselves. 

Bennett loves the joy he is able to help bring to families during the event. The gifts, he said, go a long way in making it a less stressful Christmas season for families.

“Just make the kids and the families feel real special,” he said.

Bennett has helped with Shop with a Cop for four years.

This year, about 14 deputies and officers helped with the event.

Not only do the law enforcement officers participate, but Sheriff’s Office staff members also come to help with wrapping the gifts after the children are finished shopping. 

While they wait for their gifts to be wrapped or for their shopping partner to arrive, children and volunteers can enjoy snacks provided by Walmart.