EATON — On Wednesday, Dec. 13, law enforcement officers from several area agencies helped dozens of children and their families have a merrier Christmas than they would have otherwise celebrated.

Officials from the Preble County Sheriff’s Office, Eaton Police Division, Gratis Police Department, West Alexandria Police Department and Ohio State Highway Patrol all turned out to help during the Floyd E. Spitler Fraternal Order of Police annual Cops & Kids event on Wednesday evening.

Donations increased this year, which allowed the group to help additional children.

“We have 14 families total,” PCSO Major Brad Moore said. “We took 37 kids this year, which is up. I believe we took five or six more kids this year than we did last year.”

The evening event includes a special meal with the law enforcement officers for the families. They then descend on Walmart for an evening of shopping.

“Tipsy Hog, the Michaels, catered the dinner for free and supplied all that for everybody,” Moore said. “We did that at the American Legion here in Eaton. It was a good, fun time. Santa Claus made an appearance, of course. So, all the kids got to see him. Everybody was really excited. We have a great group of families this year. Some pretty heartwarming stories, and some special needs kids that we wanted to come out and try to help them.”

The meal provides a time for the officers and families to get to know each other.

“I encourage all of our people and everybody there to sit down, get to know these families,” Moore said. “We’re there for about an hour and a half with them before we come up here and it’s not just, ‘Hey, let’s all eat,’ it’s, ‘Hey, let’s sit down and get to know each other and, tell me about yourself,’ until you know and kind of develop a relationship with them.”

The children selected for Cops & Kids come from different backgrounds. “We have a couple families that were split homes from recent crimes and domestic violence,” Moore said. “The male half isn’t involved in the family currently due to pending legal matters, so they needed some help. Several of them when I made notification with them, they broke down in tears and were very thankful. That’s the best part, getting to tell them. I say that every year, but I mean, it really is.

“The best part is getting to tell them and seeing the look on their face and start crying. Lots of hugs and lots of thank yous,” Moore added. “Some others come from the schools. A couple of kids that were bullied on the bus, little kids, I think, a second or third grader in two different schools. They had some lunches or dinners — I guess schools have programs where they sent dinners home with kids sometimes — and some kids on the bus were bullying them and taking their dinners. A couple of them have lost some loved ones close. So, everybody has their own little unique story and we’re just trying to help them get through the holidays and make sure they have a Merry Christmas.”

“The great thing this year is the number of kids kind of stayed the same, but we were able to help more families this year,” Moore said. “I coordinate with a lot of the Success Liaisons in the schools. I give them my list of who I’m taking. They get me theirs. And we cross reference everything with Leslie Bassler at United Way, that way we’re trying to reach as many people as we can touch, as many families as we can. And this year, it just worked out that we ended up with more families to help.”

“The State Highway Patrol reached out to us saying that they would like to get more involved in the community over here. The Post is based out of Montgomery County, but obviously they’re over here. Gratis PD. City of Eaton had a really good turnout. From the Sheriff’s Office, we had corrections officers, dispatchers, deputies, obviously supervisors — and nobody here is on duty,” Moore said of the officers. “Everybody’s here on their own time.”

“Some of these families come in throughout the year from the people on the front lines, like the road deputies and stuff like that saying, like, ‘hey, I was out. These people were struggling to make it. I think they would be a good family to shop with a cop.’ So it all kind of comes together every year,” he added.

Moore says he gets anxious about how much funding they’ll have each year, but it always comes through.

“I get worried. I get nervous every year because you know we’re completely funded on community donations. They start kind of after the media release, thanks to you guys and social media. They’ll start kind of trickling in as we get closer to the event. I just I told two of these families yesterday because we got another $500,” he said. “This year we broke it down to right around $150 (for each child) and $75 to $100 of that is necessities, jackets and coats, socks, shoes — stuff like that. And then after that, it’s toys or whatever they can do with the rest.”

The program not only helps the families with the gifts, it provides them with a new understanding of the law enforcement officers themselves.

“We care and it kind of pulls back the curtain a little bit,” Moore said. “Unfortunately for some of the kids here tonight, the only time that they’ve seen a police officer is when they’ve come to the house with mom and dad or an uncle, or whatever the scenario is. And, you know, this one lets the people that work for us let their guard down a little bit and talk about themselves and they see us in a whole different atmosphere and light. We’re getting to talk to these other people and connect with the kids on a personal level.

“That’s why you’ll see them hugging a lot before they leave. We’re just not going to be like, ‘we’re going to feed you and we’re going to go buy a bunch of stuff.’ It’s much more — we spend an hour and a half with them, sit and talk and get to know each other a little bit. I’ve put a big emphasis on that over the last 10 years.”

For more information, contact Major Moore [email protected] or at 937-683-8021.

Anyone interested in donating for future Cops & Kids events, can make donations to Cops & Kids, P.O. Box 602, Eaton, OH 45320.