ST. MARY’S COUNTY, Md. – The Optimist Club partnered with the St. Mary’s County Fraternal Order of Police and the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office to host the 18th annual “Shop with a Cop” program on Dec. 18, where each of the 110 local children each received $200 worth of gifts.

For those who do not know, St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) nominates children, and local, state and federal law enforcement pick up these children to take them on a shopping spree at local stores. They individually allot the children a predetermined amount of money when they shop. The money comes from donations from private citizens and businesses throughout St. Mary’s.

“Children that may not get to celebrate a Christmas will have a Christmas and be able to not only have things for themselves but for family members as well,” St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron said. “Hopefully, [this event] instills some of the spirit of Christmas, which is about giving, not receiving. This is a bit uplifting for the kids and the community.”

For the community, this has become a noble tradition, which explains why the donations and turnout are great. The event not only helps the community get into the Christmas spirit but helps kids build great relationships with law enforcement.

“We have been doing this for 18 years, so I think this has become a great tradition in the community. Anecdotally we have seen kids who could have gone down a different path, but because of the relationships they have built with these police officers, they do not,” William Raddatz, event coordinator, said.

Additionally, this year seemed to be a bounce-back year for the event, after the pandemic held last year’s event back. And coordinators are excited to use this momentum to continue growing the program locally in the coming years.

The “Shop with a Cop” program is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) charitable organization whose members are the St. Mary’s County Optimist Club and the St. Mary’s County Fraternal Order of Police. This program is an all-volunteer program with no paid employees.

Contact our news desk at news@thebaynet.com

See all photos below.