Courtesy photo Delta County Sgt. Liza Plourde poses for a photo with two kids during last year’s Shop with a Cop event. The holiday tradition pairs Delta County disadvantaged kids with law enforcement officers for a shopping excursion.

ESCANABA — A total of 50 Delta County children will be Christmas shopping with local law enforcement officers Saturday.

The Delta County Sheriff’s Department’s Shop with a Cop program pairs local police officers with disadvantaged Delta County children, chosen by the children’s school, for a Christmas shopping excursion. The event will occur at Walmart Saturday.

Shop with a Cop has been going on in Delta County for over 20 years, with donations from the community sustaining the charitable event.

Deputy Lt. Todd Tardiff said the overall goal of the program is to have law enforcement more directly involved with the community and kids to form positive relationships.

“I mean there’s other programs we do, but to me the more we get in the schools the better,” Tardiff said.

He said to just change one kid’s opinion about law enforcement for the better means the program is working.

All of the elementary schools in Delta County participate in the program.

According to Tardiff, the county organizes the program for six elementary schools in the county, including Mid Pen, Rapid River, Big Bay, Soo Hill, Cameron and Jones. He said Escanaba Public Safety Det. Tabitha Marchese directly organizes the program for the elementary schools within the Escanaba city limits.

Fifty kids will participate in the holiday tradition this year.

About 50 percent of the kids are from the elementary schools outside the city limits and 50 percent are from within the city limits, Tardiff said.

“When this initially started — we had a school resource officer that started it so he only did the county schools — so I mean typically it was only around 10 kids. So it was like, ‘why not make it bigger and help the whole community of Delta County?’ I mean the majority of the residents do live in the city in this county,” he said.

It is the schools that choose the children that participate.

“The schools know the kids better,” Tardiff said.

He added he knows nothing about how the schools go about choosing the kids, but that at the end of the day the schools know their students and who would benefit.

All local law enforcement agencies in the county, including the correctional officers, are invited to participate in the program.

Tardiff explained he reaches out to all agencies to come and help on the day of the event.

According to Tardiff, the goal is to someday have a one-on-one experience for the kids participating.

Thanks to many donations from local organizations, businesses and residents, the Shop with a Cop program continues to be able to support Delta County children during the holidays and grow positive relationships between those kids and law enforcement.

“Every year its more,” said Tardiff about donations towards the program. “I know it was over $14,000.”

He expressed gratitude towards local businesses, organizations and residents for their continued support.

The money raised for the Shop with a Cop program doesn’t just go towards the young kids involved in the Saturday shopping event, but also benefits junior high aged kids that participate in a more casual version of the event after school in the week following the bigger event.

Tardiff said it’s a newer addition to the program and includes around 10 kids.

“I’d like to see that program grow,” he said, adding how important it is to form positive relationships between kids of that age group.

The Delta County community does more than just provide monetary donations to the event.

Tardiff explained community members and organizations also volunteer their time as gift wrappers during the event.

According to Tardiff, having people volunteer to gift wrap helps a lot and keeps the event on track.

“I think Delta County is incredibly generous. All the organization with not only their money but time,” he said.

If people, businesses or organizations are interested in donating or volunteering for the Shop with a Cop program, they can can contact Tardiff at the sheriff’s office at 906-786-3633 or send him an email at ttardiff@deltacountymi.org.