Members
of the Lincoln Police Department have been helping to make those
initials stand for a better Christmas for less fortunate children for
the past 18 years.
About 52
Lincoln area youngsters up to 16 years old received important items on
their wish lists Wednesday evening when police officers passed out the
presents at Knights of Columbus Hall.
[Megan Coons concentrating hard to
get the presents wrapped.]
"Our
goal is just to make sure that at Christmas every kid has
presents," said Cpl. Mark Coons, who started the program 18 years
ago.
"We
want to help the kids have a Christmas they wouldn’t normally
have," added Detective John Bunner, president of the Fraternal
Order of Police 208.
To help
identify the children who might miss out on the fun at Christmas, the
COPS group contacts local agencies. The youngsters make lists of the
things they want most and submit them to the Police Department.
[Leighann Howland (left) and Mallory
Coons (right) work together on the gift wrapping.]
Police
officers do the shopping at local stores and wrap the presents, with a
little help from friends and family. All three of Coons’ children,
daughters Megan, 20, and Mallory, 16, and son Mason, 12, help with the
shopping and wrapping.
Clothes,
music, dolls and games are high on the wish list, Megan told the Lincoln
Daily News. Remote control cars, electronic games, radios and
portable CD players are also "most-wanted" items, Coons
added.
The idea
for COPS started years ago, when Coons became aware that there were
many children "falling through the cracks" who didn’t get
much for Christmas. He began asking for help from local merchants to
make Christmas a little happier for these youngsters.
