Police raise $1,600 to help children

Members of the Fraternal Order of Police Cherokee Lodge No. 20 gathered at Wal-Mart on Tuesday evening to shop for the annual "Christmas with a Cop" program. Holding a toy in his hand, Blacksburg Police Sgt. Peter McBride agonized over whether he should buy it.

"Is this right for a 7-yearold boy?," he asked aloud while double- and triplechecking a carefully written wish list in his other hand.

Ultimately, he put the toy down and headed off to another aisle to look around for something else.

For the most part, he wasn't alone in his indecision as most of the other members of Cherokee Lodge No. 20 of the Fraternal Order of Police, who showed up at the Wal- Mart Supercenter in Gaffney on Tuesday night, were having similar difficulties.

For all of them, the goal was to make Christmas special for a child in need and to help as many children as possible with a limited supply of cash they had on hand.

Members of the Cherokee FOP Lodge had spent the past month raising funds for their annual "Christmas with a Cop" program and initial concerns that the downturn in the economy would not only hurt fundraising but also increase the number of children in need were realized to some extent.

There were more applications for assistance than in years past while the amount of money raised was about the same, meaning the dollars would have to stretch a little further.

"It was a little tougher (to raise funds) this year that it was last year," the FOP lodge's 2nd Vice President Mark Gooch said. "We had to beat the bushes a little harder."

Though some initially worried the FOP Lodge might have to turn someone away this year, something it had never done, the $1,600 the lodge raised ensured that none of the children on the list would be go without something under their Christmas tree on Dec. 25.

Wal-Mart came through in big way, too, offering the shopping law enforcement officers a discount on their purchases that helped them stretch their dollars even further.

Altogether, the FOP Lodge set out with a shopping lists for about 19 children, some of them in foster care and some with very special needs, like a little girl suffering from severe physical disabilities that made gift selection even more difficult.

Though there was no way they could purchase everything on the children's wish lists, the FOP members tried as hard as they could.

A video game system was beyond reach, for instance, but a bicycle or doll wasn't.

Some of the children asked for clothing. Other requests for assistance simply included the name of the child and their age, leaving it to the officer's discretion.

Some of the wish lists were downright touching.

If one young boy could have nothing else, McBride said, he wanted Santa to bring him a Play Doh set.

Among the shoppers helping McBride were Gooch, who is a retired Blacksburg Police Office, Trooper 1st Class Jeff Martin of the South Carolina Highway Patrol and Stephanie Martin, and Deputy Danny Tippett of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.

Cherokee County's Department of Social Services assisted the FOP in screening and recommending applicants for the program. Because the effort was all volunteer, 100 percent of all funds raised directly benefit local children and families.