Members of Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Will County Lodge 94 made sure 50 area children are able to enjoy the holiday this season when they hosted the lodge’s 25th Annual Shop with a Sheriff event on Saturday, December 2.
Will County FOP Lodge 94, comprised of employees of the Will County Sheriff’s Department, partnered with Morningstar Mission 25 years ago to start the annual tradition of Shop with a Sheriff. Morningstar asks local schools to supply a list of children who may need a little joy at Christmas. Each child, usually accompanied by family members, shops with a uniformed Lodge 94 member using a $100 gift card. The children tend to buy more items for their families than themselves, so Lodge 94 members often give money from their own pockets to make sure the children truly have a Merry Christmas.
The 50 children met their sheriff’s deputy “escorts” at the Mission and were then taken on school buses to the Walmart in New Lenox to shop.
“I still run into adults who took part in Shop with a Sheriff as kids a quarter of a century ago, and they still remember it as a highlight of their young lives,” said Lodge 94 past President Wayne Ratajack, who helped to start Shop with a Sheriff 25 years ago. “I’m proud and humbled that my fellow Lodge 94 members have steadfastly continued this tradition of giving through the years, and we are thankful for the staff at the New Lenox Walmart who also helped make this happen.”
