The Plant City Police Department (PCPD) will have the chance to play Santa while providing gifts to children and seniors thanks to its “Back the Beard” campaign, a fundraiser, in its third year, allowing male officers to grow full beards and female officers to polish their names with non-traditional colors, for a small monthly donation.
Those small donations, made by approximately 40 officers, added up. The fundraiser collected $5,860, money which was spent by officers, their families and teachers this week at Walmart as they checked off items on each child’s wish list.
Shopping carts were filled with squishmallows, Lego sets, basketballs, Pokemon toys, bikes, clothing and more. Some items on wish lists were particularly heartbreaking. A child wanted sheets for her bed. Another wanted a Christmas tree. A third needed shoes to replace the too-small pair she wore to school every day.
Fifty children will have Christmas gifts under their trees thanks to the program, more than double last year’s number of 20. Police officers worked with educators at Advantage Academy and Jackson Elementary to identify students who would most benefit from the fundraiser.
Program organizer Tiffany Lindsey-Tester said that in addition to working with the two elementary schools, officers identified other families in the community while on patrol. “These were families we found through referrals, they haven’t reached out to the police department for help,” she said. “This year we’re also working with nursing homes in town to donate items, the most requested items, that residents needs.”
Lindsey-Tester said they will drop off the presents to schools the week of Dec. 18.
Corporal William Harvester, his wife Rachel (a teacher at Advantage Academy) and their two children walked down the Walmart toy and clothing aisles on Tuesday, shopping for items on a couple of children’s wish lists. “It’s awesome working together with the police department and helping kids in the community,” said Rachel. “These are things these children may not get if it wasn’t for this program.”
PCPD Police Chief James Bradford said the “Back the Beard” campaign is an annual event that has a positive impact on both his department and the community. “We do this because we love the community and we want to show them how much we love them by providing something that perhaps some of these families can’t afford,” said PCPD Police Chief James Bradford. “Every child deserves a childhood.”