A Virginia police department decided to give local foster kids a helping hand this holiday season by donating gift cards for 120 children and young adults.
The Prince William Police Department worked together with the Prince William Department of Social Services to get the gift cards out to the foster children, WUSA reported.
The police department was able to donate $15,685 in gift cards to the department of social services.
“Even though there is a difficult situation at the moment, a lot of businesses came forward and wanted to help when they were actually doing extremely well,” said PWCPD Officer Joanne Cathcart.
The Prince William Police Department said it usually participates in its Santa Cops and Santa Ride programs, where police officers go shopping with local kids.
However, those programs had to be put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, a department spokesperson said.
“We were encouraged to get gift cards to grocery stores, convenience stores, fast food places, places that would be able to give a handout and help people in need and maybe get some food,” PWCPD Officer Truman Paul said.
The gift card donation challenge also had a competitive spirit this year among the officers, where individual units and squads were encouraged to outdo each other with donations.
“Our unit came in first and it was very good to talk to old units I was on and rally each other,” said PWCPD Officer Adam Gardiner. “But it was all in good fun and we got to do it for a good cause.”
Sometimes the reverse has happened where members of the community have donated gift cards to the police officers.
In April, a ten-year-old donated more than 200 gift cards to Missouri police officers, and in August, Back the Blue rally organizers gave police officers $1,500 in gift cards.
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