Washington County’s Shop with a Cop program is growing. Next week an official announcement will be made regarding a major donor and a partnership with another established holiday organization.
Shop with a Cop in Washington County started 12 years ago.
Deputy Mary Woerner organized her friends in law enforcement, teamed with area volunteers and took children Christmas shopping.
Moving forward, Woerner said the program is partnering with the Gingerbread House, another local organization that provides holiday gifts to more than 600 families throughout Washington County.
“We’re looking at doing a bigger program to reach more families and offer assistance to the Gingerbread House,” Woerner said.
The partnership means Shop with a Cop will also move to a larger location. “We outsized ourselves at the Moose Lodge,” said Woerner. “We’re moving to the Washington County Fair Park Ziegler Expo Center because it’s a central location and it’s big enough so we’ll never outgrow it.”
The goal, according to Woerner, is to take more kids shopping for their families and help alleviate some of the need for organizer Linda White at the Gingerbread House.
“We never addressed providing presents for parents to take home and have them under the tree,” Woerner said. “We just never thought about it but it there is a need for that surprise gift from Santa.”
The other major announcement is that the Rolfs Family Foundation will be making a generous donation to the program. “It’s to help make this a bigger and better program,” Jeff Szukalski, a board member with Shop with a Cop, said. “The Rolfs family wants to take care of all the kids in Washington County and they will be helping for the next few years.”
Last year Shop with a Cop worked with 65 kids and 125 volunteers including First Bank Financial Centre, Serigraph, West Bend Mutual, Friends of Police Kettle Moraine Lodge, Delta Defense, West Bend Moose Lodge, Johnson Bus, and the West Bend Walmart.
“We’re not looking at growing so much this year,” Woerner said. “Because we’re implementing so many changes we’re going to try to stay the same size and get the busing down and getting our new care packages put together.”
Woerner said the partnership with the Gingerbread House will mean both programs will have a long term solid foundation in the community.