I had some time away from the office today and had to run some errands. One of those errands took me to the Target store at Ward Parkway Mall. Those pesky vacuum cleaner bags, you know?
I pulled into the parking lot and, before getting parked, noticed a Kansas City, Missouri police department squad car, parked there but far out in the lot. It seemed odd. I never see that.
I got inside, of course, only to see an officer. "Ah, that's the one who parked there", I thought.
Then I saw another officer.
And another.
And sure, it's the holidays but the store seemed unusually busy for the middle of the week and middle of the day.
Pretty soon, I noticed there were police--and families with them, it seemed--all over the place.
I stopped this one young officer and asked him what was up.
He said that, yes, the KCPD did this, every year, I guess. Today there were going to be 152 kids go through with them, shopping, today alone. They call it their "Shop With a Cop" program, you guessed it, for the holidays.
I congratulated and thanked him and a few of the other officers there.
What a fantastic program. Seems Target sponsors it.
Shop With A COP Program
Seems it's quite the national program. Lee's Summit does it, as does Parkville and Prairie Village, on the Kansas Side and lots of other cities and towns in the area.
So kudos, KCPD, and to you, too, Target and really, all of Kansas City.
What a great thing. What a great, even beautiful thing to do.
It's enough to give a person hope.
Happy holidays, y'all.
Links:
