EDWARDSVILLE - It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for Edwardsville’s Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 244.
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The Edwardsville Fraternal Order of Police will be sponsoring their Sixth Annual “Christmas with a Cop” program on Saturday, Dec. 19.
The Christmas with a Cop program begins at 8:15 a.m. at Burger King in Edwardsville. Burger King continues to be a proud sponsor of this program and donates breakfast to the children chosen for the program, Edwardsville Police Sergeant Mike Breihan said. Afterward, the children are taken to Target in Edwardsville and given $200 to spend on holiday gifts. After the gifts are wrapped, the children will accompany officers to a gift wrapping table where the presents will be wrapped by the Edwardsville Police Department’s Explorer Program and other volunteers.
Since 2010, The Edwardsville Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 244 has raised the funds for the program. The program continues to grow each year, Sgt. Breihan said.
“I would say almost all of the police officers are there on their own time and they bring out families to see it,” Breihan said. “I know a lot of wives of police officers help wrap presents. This will be the sixth Christmas we have done this. We started with taking 10 kids shopping, but it has now grown to 20 kids.”
Breihan said it puts a smile on all the officers’ faces when they are able to hand them the $200 and go shopping with them, trying to help them find the right gift.
Something that impressed the sergeant was that many of the kids spend a portion of the money on other family members for Christmas gifts.
“We feel this really brings back the spirit of Christmas and the holidays to the Edwardsville Police Department, the children and the families,” Breihan said.
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