KAILUA-KONA — Fifty kids, 16 officers, a deputy and one FBI agent.
Those are the ingredients for a holiday shopping tradition that blows the doors off Black Friday.
The 19th annual Shop With a Cop event hit Kmart’s aisles Saturday morning, a holiday staple put on by Catholic Charities that sends keiki shopping for Christmas gifts with police officers in the name of spreading holiday cheer and building positive relationships.
“Fabulous. One of the best ever,” said Robert O’Meara, Kmart store manager, on how the event that started with a 7 a.m. breakfast before turning toward merchandise unfolded.
But the best part of the event that gave each child a $40 gift card to choose whatever toy, game, gift their hearts desired?
“The smiles,” O’Meara said.
But besides giving young ones a little extra for the holiday season, a main part of the event is to build a positive relationship. It’s important to associate upbeat memories with professional community servants, such as police officers, who all volunteered their time to take part in Saturday’s shopping sweep.
Hawaii Police Department Lt. Nancy Haitsuka knows all about that.
She’s taken part in the event every year. And the one day a year makes a difference, she said.
“They’ll come up and give us high fives,” she said. “They enjoy it.”
Officers were joined by a sheriff’s deputy and FBI agent this year.
“We’re trying to build some positives,” O’Meara said. “That’s the main thing I look at it as.”
But with so much toys and games to choose from, it can be hard to select within the $40 budget.
No problem, officers are investigators, after all, and as such are always thinking ahead.
“We all carry extra,” Haitsuka said, referring to personal cash they carry just in case. “It always goes over.”
