Tracie Sullivan

tracie@thespectrum.com

CEDAR CITY – Each holiday season, fire personnel, EMTs and police officers get together to help bring Christmas to around 100 underprivileged Iron County children.

The program Shop with a Cop costs around $10,000 each year, officials said.

To raise money, public safety officials spend some of their down time working as waiters serving tables in Cedar City restaurants every Friday for more than a month prior to the big event.

This year has been no different.

The fundraiser is called Tip a Cop and is meant to help raise the funds necessary to give each child they shop with a $100 gift card.

This year, there have already been several opportunities for people to come out and tip a cop, but there are still two more scheduled events – one for Friday at Lupita’s Mexican Restaurant and Dec. 12 at Chili’s Bar and Grill.

Cedar City Police Sgt. Jerry Womack, who is over the Shop with a Copprogram this year, said while waiting tables isn’t easy, the work is worth seeing the smiles on the children’s faces.

It’s not easy raising money, but somehow public safety officials always end up reaching their goal, Womack added.

Of course it helps that the waiters and waitresses at the various restaurants also donate their tips for the night to the police department, officials said.

The Shop with a Cop event where public safety officials converge on Wal-Mart at 6 a.m. Saturday is scheduled this year for Dec. 13.

The children meet their public safety partner at Wal-Mart and, from there, ride in a police cruiser, ambulance or fire truck to Canyon View High School for breakfast.

“It’s a whole caravan of cop cars, ambulances and fire trucks with sirens and lights heading up the freeway and Main Street at 6 in the morning,” Womack said. “The kids love being a part of that. They get so excited.”

Greeting the children at school is Santa Claus with breakfast being served by the ladies from the Cedar City Elks Lodge.

“The kids are so excited and it’s so neat to see the looks on their faces when they show up for breakfast. They (kids) think it’s so neat to get to ride in the cop cars,” said Gina Delange, former president of the Lady Elks in 2002 who was responsible for organizing the breakfast and has been a part of it every year since.

From the school, the children would ride back to Wal-Mart where the kids go on a shopping spree with their public safety partners.

Many of them actually end up buying stuff for their families instead of themselves.

“I had a kid one year who had gone through Wal-Mart a couple of days before the event and made a list of stuff he wanted to buy for his parents and siblings, and he spent all of his money on his family. It was really neat to see how much he cared about his brothers and sisters and mom and dad and wanted to make sure they got something for Christmas,” said Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower.

“Every year there’s something that happens that’s a tearjerker,” he said.

The children who have the opportunity to participate in the Shop with a Cop event are referred by school representatives.

Generally, they range in age from 6 to 13 years old.

If there is an older child that has a younger sibling, they are often included as well.

Tip a Cop fundraisers to the actual shopping day would not be a success without the help of various people and organizations, Womack said.

For information on how to donate, contact Sgt. Jerry Womack at 435-586-2956.

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