Santa Needs Your Help: WGNA’s Shop With A Cop

If you know me at all you know that making sure all children have a magical Christmas has always been a passion for me. I'm going to make it happen again this year, and need your help.

Early in my career I used to sit in the back of a pick up truck for days collecting toys for the kids. Soon after that, I created "Pennies From Heaven" to raise money to make sure less fortunate kids were not forgotten at Christmas. Last year we started a new Christmas drive that I think is the very best yet— WGNA's Shop With A Cop.

You see, when I was a very small child we didn't have much. I had many years where I would go to school and hear about the gifts the other kids got from Santa. I would wonder, what did I do wrong? This is something I never want any child to have to wonder, especially the many very good and deserving kids that Santa may miss because they live in neighborhoods that are just not on any maps. Fortunately, Santa has many good friends in law enforcement in the area who know exactly who these special children are and where they live. He has asked these fine people to not only help him find the kids but also to take time to shop with these kids and make sure they have a reason to celebrate such a magically holiday.

That is why I love Shop With A Cop. It makes Christmas special for deserving kids while establishing a relationship between our kids and the police officers who protect them and our communities.  .

Last year we were able to see kids and cops have a truly magical time shopping together at Crossgates Mall to find the perfect gift from Santa. I can't tell you what an incredible thing it is to see a small boy or girl holding hands with a member of law enforcement as they head off to the Disney store together to fulfill Santa's wishes. I saw what I truly needed to see last year, children looking up to and seeing the human and the kind side of their local law enforcement officers, and cops making a good impression of some beautiful impressionable kids before the realities of the world can make a bad impression on them.

This is where we all can really make a difference in our communities for our greatest assets, our children and the men and women we have chosen to protect them.

We didn't raise as much money as we wanted to last year.  We need to make this bigger and better and much more wide spread than we were able to do last year.

What we need is YOU!

To make a donation visit any CapComm location and make a donation to the BLUE FRIDAY-SHOP WITH A COP account, stop the WGNA tent at any upcoming concert or appearance, or send it to WGNA at 1241 Kings Road, Schenectady, NY 12303.