Local children had the chance to go Christmas shopping with Hot Springs police officers Sunday as part of the third annual Hot Springs Shop With A Cop, with one group going to Walmart on Albert Pike Road that morning and the second going to the Walmart on Central Avenue in the afternoon.
"This is something that the Hot Springs Police Department's been doing for several years," HSPD Cpl. Mike Brown said. "It gives us a chance to actually bond with the community and the younger generation. This lets them see that there is a positive side of things and gives them a chance to have a good Christmas."
"I've been having a really great day, because I got to shop with a cop," Justin Allen, 11, said.
"We got to shop at Walmart" and Brown is "really nice," he said.
Sarah Allen, Justin's mother, said, "I am very appreciative of what the Hot Springs Police Department is doing. Without them doing this, I doubt my son would have had a Christmas this year."
Police Chief Chris Chapmond said he almost cried when the child he was with asked if he could put back the Nerf toy gun he had selected and use his money to buy a tree. Chapmond told him to keep the toys he chose and they would get him a Christmas tree.
"This is the third year. Each year we've been able to grow it," Officer 1st Class Omar Cervantes, public information officer, said. "The first year we only did 25 kids, the second year we did 50 kids, and this year we're going to do 75 kids."
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Walmart and Sam's Club were the main donors, giving $15,500 to the event.
"The Hot Springs Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1 donated $1,000," Cervantes said. "Then we had people donating, citizens sending in checks, and we got another $625. The total money raised was $17,125."
Any money left over "we're going to try to give it all to the kids. We got food baskets for the families of the kids with hams. When they leave out, we're going to give them the food baskets. It will be a surprise," he said.
"The way the kids were selected, we went to Hot Springs School District and Lakeside School District, the two located in the city, and contacted the counselors and teachers, mainly the counselors, who nominated kids from the district. We tried to get an equal amount from each school. And then we contacted the parents of the kids about it," Cervantes said.