Officer Melissa Robison of the Middletown Township Police Department gave this young girl a reason to smile as she shopped with this cop for the holidays.
by Lisa Deangelis
The holiday season should be a magical time of year when children suffering from food insecurity or the terminal illness of a parent, or some other critically challenging situation should for a brief time be able to forget about their problems while receiving a gift they love.
If you think this is impossible, you’ve never met Community Relations Officer Melissa Robison, Badge Number 4497, of the Middletown Township Police Department. In 2016, Officer Robison started a program that would become known as Shop with a Cop. That year, she raised $3,500 to take 38 children to Target to choose holiday gifts for themselves.
“We learned many lessons that first year,” she says, “and the first one was that we didn’t have enough money! All the officers were pulling out their own credit cards to cover all the extras they just had to buy for their little shoppers.”
Something else the officers learned: The children were often resistant to buying gifts for themselves and would instead opt for necessities like groceries, sheets, blankets, and toiletries. “Many outright refuse to buy anything for themselves and put the wants and needs of others before their own,” explained Officer Robison. “We assure the kids that we can purchase all the needed items, but we insist on also purchasing some wants as well.”
After the officer assigned has convinced the child there will be enough, Officer Robison says, “you can almost see the weight of the world coming off their shoulders, their eyes getting big and their minds buzzing with possibilities.”
An operation like this requires a lot of preparation and commitment. First, officers are paired with a child in need. Children who participate in Shop with a Cop are all from Lower Bucks County, including Langhorne, Levittown, Penndel, Lower Southampton, Northampton, Morrisville, Bristol, Falls, and several others. They are usually children whose families are struggling financially, but sometimes also children who themselves are stricken with terminal medical issues or have a family member with a terminal illness, children who have a parent or guardian who is deployed, children placed in foster homes, as well as those facing other life challenges.
Participating police departments use the power of social media to share applications both online and with local school districts. Parents, family friends, counselors, religious leaders and others can apply on behalf of a child. Every single application is reviewed, and the officers do their absolute best to include those who are most in need.
Shop with a Cop reads through almost 700 applications every year and getting that down to a workable number can be difficult and heartbreaking, which is why fundraising is so crucial to try to help every child in need.
They have come a long way since 2016. In the beginning it was only Middletown Township and Lower Southampton officers volunteering to shop with the children. Today, members of 21 different law enforcement agencies across the area with just shy of 100 cops volunteer to accompany a child to Target where they will shop till they drop!
The program’s biggest fundraiser is the annual golf outing to be held at the Yardley Country Club on October 14th. Officer Robison hastens to let the public know “As long as you can hold a golf club, you are skilled enough to be at our event! This is a great time, with really wonderful people, and it’s a fun day on the links.”
She credits Jeff Bethman, local business owner of Lin Bethman & Sons Auto Center in Newtown as being “the driving force behind this event. Jeff loves golf, but he loves helping kids even more.”
Shop with a Cop is always looking for more golfers as well as sponsors, and information is available by contacting Officer Robison at mrobison@mtpd.org.
“Our other major source of funding is our incredible community,” tells Officer Robison. “Numerous Lower Bucks County police departments are involved in letting their residents and businesses know about the opportunity to donate. This has been a grassroots effort of so many people, and due to growing awareness, we are able to help hundreds of families each year.”
On a more personal level, Officer Robison says that watching a child get the things they have so needed and wanted “never gets old.”
One father’s experience particularly resonated. “I saw a man pacing by our register looking stressed out and sick waiting for his two sons to come through the line with their treasures. I asked if he was okay. He told me he had stage four cancer, and he knew this would be his last Christmas. He had spent his life savings on his medical care, trying to stay alive for his young sons. His boys came through the line, their carts filled with comfortable clothes for their dad, board games they could play together as he was often bedridden, and movies to watch together. The dad broke down in tears.”
“Sometimes, putting this together gets very challenging,” Officer Robison says. “But at the same time, I am always re-energized when I remember this story and the many others that I have witnessed unfolding.”
For more information, visit middletowncf.org, and click on “Shop with a Cop”.