Making spirits brighter, a caravan of cops delivers gifts and hope to area families

On a frosty 28 F morning on Dec. 16, police officers from Tuscarawas County gathered at the New Philadelphia Police Department and set out on a mission: delivering holiday gifts to area families during the 14th annual Christmas with a Cop event.

The Fraternal Order of Police Tuscora Lodge #4 organizes the event each year. Robert Everett, director of safety and security at Buckeye Career Center and a retired officer, is the lodge president.

“I’m very proud and pleased that our community has supported this program for the past 14 years,” Everett said. “It’s thanks to our residents and the business community that we are able to do it.”

The program operates entirely on donated funds. How many can be helped depends on the amount of money received. “This year we are helping 12 families and 32 youngsters, and when I say youngsters, that is everyone in the family up to the age of 18,” Everett said.

Making a list

Each year the lodge reaches out to educators at all Tuscarawas County schools, who then provide the officers with lists of families they feel may be having a difficult year.

“We feel as though no one knows the children better than their teachers,” Everett said. “We rely on them to identify the families that can use a little extra help.”

The families chosen are contacted and asked to provide a wish list for each child that will guide officers and their families as they shop. There will be no generic boy or girl gifts purchased. All children get gifts selected especially for them and gift wrapped by the officers, spouses, family members and other volunteers.

On delivery day the gifts are stuffed into police cruisers from places like New Philadelphia, Dover, Uhrichsville, Tuscarawas and the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Department. In a caravan with more cruisers than there are reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh, officers weave their way through city streets and back roads on a mission to make wishes come true.

Squeals of delight

As Saturday’s caravan pulled up to each home, lights ablaze, officers unloaded bags brimming with presents. These were not small bags but rather the 30-gallon trash bags being hauled into homes, five or six at a time.

Everett, wearing a Santa hat and beard, knocked at each door, where he was greeted with the smiles and squeals that can only emanate from children seeing gifts come their way.

While other kids have to wait until Christmas Day to open their presents, these kids get to tear into them straightaway. At the very first stop, 4-year-old Tucker Sproulstein wasted no time in finding out what he got. He and his brother Raiden are the children of Tonya and Ken Sproulstein of New Philadelphia.

At another home Raven Byers could barely contain her excitement. “She was jumping up and down and hugging everybody,” Everett said. “It just about makes you melt. It makes all the stress that goes with the holidays well worth it to see the smiles on their faces.”

The giving doesn’t stop with the children. Each family receives a gift card from a local grocery store to help offset some of the extra costs incurred during the holidays.

Bri Figley, the fiancé of state highway patrolman Nick Sutterluety, came along for the ride. “This is the first year he’s been able to come,” she said. “It’s so cool to see the kids’ big smiles. And then, of course, anytime law enforcement gets to kind of show that they are humans, not just the uniform, it’s really special.”

Officer Chad Dorsey of the New Philadelphia Police Department has served as the event chairman for the past two years.

A new tradition

Prior to COVID, Christmas with a Cop was held at the New Philadelphia Elks Lodge. The caravan was a way to adapt the program and still provide gifts so gifts could still be given and enjoyed during the pandemic. The caravan quickly gained momentum and popularity, so it was kept.

“The caravan is very effective. The community gets to see the cars, and it’s not like we’re in a caravan to make an arrest. We’re doing something fun, and we enjoy it. I think everybody enjoys it, so it’s become a new tradition,” Everett said.

Everett said lodge members are grateful to all the law-enforcement departments that participate and to the police chiefs and Sheriff Orvis Campbell for allowing the use of their vehicles.

Those who would like to donate toward next year’s Christmas with a Cop can send checks made out to FOP Tuscora Lodge #4 and mail them to P.O. Box 2, Dover, OH 44622. Everett said all donations go directly into a special account at the Dover-Phila credit union established exclusively for the Christmas with a Cop program.

“Without the caring and generosity of the residents and businesses in this community, we could not possibly do this,” Everett said. “Thanks to them, we were able to accomplish exactly what we set out to do.”