On a day that Mother Nature made certain was decidedly Christmas-like, the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department hosted its largest ever “Shop with a Cop” program with the team from the department’s Reserve Division.
Yesterday, Saturday December 9, 2017, the division conducted their “Shop with a Cop” program at the Niles area Wal-Mart.
Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Division Deputies Kimberly Fedison and Katie Bauer organized this annual event and they spent countless volunteer hours soliciting area businesses to assist in sponsoring the program. The Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Division was able to obtain more than $9,000 in donations to cover the costs of the event.
This year, the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Division partnered up with the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Chaplain’s, the Berrien Springs-Oronoko Township Police Department, the Saint Joseph City Department of Public Safety, the Fraternal Order of Police Explorers Program, and the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Sworn Deputies to make the “Shop with a Cop” program a huge success.
The Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Division along with the partner agencies and organizations assisted Sixteen (16) families and thirty-seven (37) children by allowing the children to shop for Christmas gifts for themselves, their family members, and their friends.
That is the most families that the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Division has ever adopted in the years they have been providing assistance to the community through the “Shop with a Cop” program. In addition to providing the funding to allow the children to shop, the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Division also provided funding to the sixteen families, so they could purchase goods for their households or a family style gift.
The sixteen families and children were from the Watervliet area, the Berrien Springs area, the Niles area, and the New Buffalo area.
Following the “shopping”, the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Division and members of the partner agencies and organizations took the children and their families to Michiana Christian Embassy in Niles for snacks and gift wrapping with members of Michiana Christian Embassy.
The Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Division also provided food baskets to all sixteen families, thus allowing them to have a wonderful holiday dinner and food for the holiday season.
The sixteen families and their children were referred to the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office by various schools and civic organizations, who felt they could use the assistance this year.
Prior to conducting the “shopping spree” at Wal-Mart, the Children also had the opportunity to have their pictures taken with Santa Claus and McGruff the Crime Fighting Dog, as both Santa Claus and McGruff the Crime Fighting Dog took time away from their busy schedules to attend the event.
The following businesses and/or civic organizations donated money, goods, and services to this function, without which the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Deputy Division along with the partner agencies and organizations would not have been able to assist all sixteen families and their children:
- Lane Automotive
- LECO Corporation
- Boulevard Inn & Bistro
- Conybeare Law Office PC
- Wightman & Associates Inc
- Berrien Community Foundation
- Orchard Hill Sanitary Landfill
- Tigmaster Co. Inc
- Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Division
- American Legion Post #362
- Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church – Niles
- Pike Funeral Home
- D.A. Dodd
- Friends for Berrien Springs
- Milano’s Pizza
- Michiana Christian Embassy
- Wal-Mart – Niles
- Subway Restaurant – Niles/Wal-Mart
- Midwest Waste Solutions
Sheriff’s Department officials say they “take great pride in assisting families in need especially during the holiday season. The smiles of gratitude on the faces of these children and the hugs provided by the adults and children to the Deputies and Officers are something that the Deputies and Officers will always remember.”
Sheriff Paul Bailey and the administrative staff at the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office say they are extremely proud of the efforts put forth by the Reserve Division for this cause as well as all of the volunteer hours they donate to the County and local municipalities throughout the year, to ensure that we have a great place to live and visit.
