Durant officials are making Christmas special one gift at a time

DURANT, Okla. (KXII) - The Durant Police Department held its 16th annual ‘Shop with a Cop’ and over a hundred local children will be going home with presents this holiday season.

“We’ve raised over $400,000 in the 16 years through donations and fundraising,” said Durant Detective Brandon Mitchell.

Each family was partnered with an officer or a firefighter and the kiddos were able to pick out their dream toys.

“A lot of these families have been struck by tragedy or might not have the financial means to provide and this is a way we get to give back and they get to give to their kids as well,” Det. Mitchell said.

The department partnered with the Walmart in Durant to make this event happen.

Store Manager, Summer Willis said, “it was something that Walmart was excited to do, on behalf of just giving back to the community and of course supporting the police officers and that whole team, 1st responders, EMS.”

Store Lead, Christian Emmert said this event couldn’t have come at a more perfect time, “we’ve been very thankful that we got a lot of product in, I mean we’ve got a lot of good prices out there. Walmart did a big thing and marked a lot of stuff down, we’ve gotten clearance everywhere.”

If you would like to join in on receiving gifts next year, “they submit a letter to a board at the police department, they receive the letters, and then they dedicate what families get selected,” Det. Mitchell said.

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