Saturday morning, a handful of local law enforcement officials and 22 area children gathered to participate in the annual Perry Police Department “Shop with a Cop” event.

Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn said they had representatives from his department, the Perry Fire Department, Dallas County Emergency Medical Services, and the Woodward and Urbandale police departments take part, as they helped the kids spend around $5,000 total on their families and themselves. The participants met up Saturday morning at Perry Elementary, before embarking to Hy-Vee for a free breakfast with the officers. After that they headed to locations around Perry to do their shopping, including Shopko, Dollar General, Orscheln’s Farm and Home, and Ben’s Five and Dime.

With shopping completed, the kids and officers returned to the school to wrap the gifts and have some pizza. Vaughn says the police department enjoys doing Shop with a Cop every year, and he feels it’s equally beneficial to the families and the officers. “First of all, for the community and for the kids, you know there are families that struggle at this time, trying to provide a nice Christmas. You know, (it’s) a little cheer and a little extra boost for the families. So it’s just great for the kids and great for those families, but it’s great for the officers just to kind of give back to the community and to help out, and put a smile on these kids’ faces for the holidays!”

Vaughn adds, each of the families that took part in Shop with a Cop this year will also receive a free food basket to help them have a nice holiday meal. He was thankful for everyone who donated money to the program, as well as the stores that allowed them to shop.