Sheriff adding Santa duties to repertoire
It may sound like Armageddon, but the blaring sirens and flashing lights that will resonate from West Chester to Kennett Square on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 6, will have a more uplifting explanation.
For many years, Chester County Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh and a passel of her deputies have participated in the Coatesville Police Department’s “Shop with a Cop,” a heart-warming, popular event pairing underprivileged children with money to buy holiday gifts – and a member of law-enforcement who doubled as a personal shopper.
Welsh, a member of the board of the Chester County Family Academy, a K-2 charter school in West Chester, said she couldn’t help but ponder the possibility of replicating the program. Now, after a couple years of mulling the idea and receiving tips from Coatesville officials, “Shop with the Sheriff” is poised to debut.
The approximately 90 students at Chester County Family Academy will assemble at the Providence Church in West Chester, where they will travel courtesy of Krapf’s buses to the Kennett Square Walmart, escorted by a cacophonous caravan of deputy sheriffs. At the store, the children will receive assistance from the deputies to select gifts for family members. Volunteers will help with organizing and checkout.
Once the shopping is completed, the students will return to the church, where another group of volunteers will supervise the wrapping and tagging of the gifts, and lunch will be served, thanks to donations from area restaurants. In addition, Santa and his elves will make an appearance.
“We wanted to make this day really exciting for the children,” said Welsh. “Shopping with a uniformed law enforcement officer is such a great experience. It will offer an opportunity for the kids to see the deputies in a positive way that’s fun for everyone.”
Welsh said reaction to the event has been phenomenal, making it difficult to determine who’s more enthusiastic: the adults or the children. Welsh said about 25 deputies plan to participate – four of them will march in Coatesville’s holiday parade earlier that morning – and many will also take part in Coatesville’s “Shop with a Cop” event the next Saturday.
She said the children worked with their teachers to compile their lists, and unlike many children’s requests for the latest toys, these students leaned toward the practical. “One boy wanted a toaster for his mother and a wallet for his dad,” the sheriff said. “These kids just warm your heart.”
Susan Flynn, the academy’s chief executive officer, agreed. She said the teachers turned the creation of the lists into a homework assignment and suggested that the children quiz their relatives about what they might want. She said some of the older children opted to keep their selections a surprise.
The public charter school was founded in 1997, one of the first in Pennsylvania, to carry out the vision of Dick and Sheila Sanford “to make a difference in the lives of children.” Another vision for Dick Sanford, a local philanthropist, was Operation Warm, a burgeoning nonprofit he created that supplies winter coats to tens of thousands of needy children annually.
The children at Chester County Family Academy continue to be beneficiaries of Operation Warm, said Flynn. She said that coming from a low-income family is not a requirement to attend the school, but many of the children have experienced the hardships that accompany learning English as a second language or coming from a low socio-economic background.
Flynn said most of the students reside within a 10-mile radius of downtown West Chester because busing is provided in that region. However, she said the school has had parents from Chester and Philadelphia who were so eager for a safe, nurturing environment for their children that they drove them daily to West Chester.
The school, which operates 11 months a year from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., attempts to provide the students with private school-style opportunities, Flynn said. The students get Suzuki and swimming instruction as well as access to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and a variety of clubs.
When the students prepared their lists, many of them included food staples, Flynn said. That trend prompted an outreach from Anne F. Hamilton, another area philanthropist who runs Community Clothes Charity. Flynn said the students were told to remove the food items because Hamilton would be providing each family with a special Christmas dinner.
Welsh said interacting with these “precious, wonderful children who are so excited and so grateful” inspires that kind of reaction. She said the outpouring from the community has been fantastic, explaining that Walmart is matching every $50 donation so that each child will receive a $100 to spend. She said donations have come in from groups, such as Rotaries, as well as individuals, many of which opted to sponsor more than one child.
Flynn said the experience has changed her approach to the holidays. She said most people in her family have reached the point where they really didn’t need anything. “I’d rather use the money on these children,” she said. “It’s more rewarding to make sure these children have things they wouldn’t receive otherwise … It’s making everyone aware of what Christmas is really about.”
Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible contribution to the event should contact Chester County Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh at cwelsh@chesco.org or Deputy Harry McKinney at 610-344-4314 or hmckinney@chesco.org. For more information on Chester County Family Academy, visit http://www.ccfaschool.org/.
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