ABOVE: Officer Lily Paine helps a girl look for gifts Sunday afternoon at Walmart in Fairmont during the Fairmont Police Department’s Shop with a Cop event.

FAIRMONT– Walmart was packed on Sunday with people shopping for gifts and special groceries a week before Christmas and among them were a dozen Fairmont police officers helping 10 children shop for their families during the department’s annual Shop with a Cop event.

Shop with a Cop was started locally by Brad Buhmann and over the years the program has grown greatly.

Sergeant Jaime Bleess said this was the program’s 13th year and this year it was back to normal after the past few years had been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This was the most kids we’ve shopped with at once,” said Bleess.

All of the police officers in the department had the opportunity to participate, though several were out on patrol during the event.

“This is our best event for participation with officers. We have a lot of support for it,” Bleess said.

Along with support from the department, the program also receives support from the community. The Fairmont Police Officers Association gave $1,000 for groceries for the families and the Lions Club gave $250, which was used on wrapping paper supplies. Employees of Schwan’s home delivery of Truman also gave $750 toward the program and McDonald’s provided gift cards for ice cream to all of the children.

“Chief Brad Hughes’ family donated $450 in his memory. He was big into Shop with a Cop in Sherburn,” Bleess said.

Finally, Walmart provided a $2,000 grant for the children to shop for presents for their families. Emily, a coach at Walmart in Fairmont, said they encourage any non-profit or similar group to apply for a grant, which is approved by a store manager. Walmart has given a grant to the program just about every year.

“A lot of the donations came in without us even asking for them,” Bleess said.

As for selecting the families, Bleess said School Resource Officer, Shannon Bass, worked with teachers at Fairmont Elementary School to come up with families who could benefit from the program.

On Sunday the children came to Walmart ready with a list of gifts to get for their family members. With all of the donations the department received, each child had $250 to spend on their family members. They walked the aisles with an officer, looking for the items.

Bleess said the parents also received a gift card for $150 to be used on groceries, which made Sunday a family affair.

After all of the items were found, the officers and children went to the back of the store where Walmart employees and some family members of officers worked on wrapping everything.

“This is the best day for us because a lot of times we get called to people on their toughest days and this is a fun chance for us to make somebody’s day in a good way,” Bleess said.