McHenry Police Department boasts yet another successful year of its Shop With a Cop charity event

MCHENRY — My Huntley News previously reported on the Shop With a Cop (SWAC) program of Dundee Township and its efforts to assist underprivileged children during the holidays in surrounding communities within Kane County.

Similarly, to Kane County’s program, police agencies within McHenry County host their own SWAC event through a nonprofit organization called the McHenry County Police Charities (MCPC), which assists local law enforcement agencies to come together to volunteer their time to take children shopping for the holidays.

This year, McHenry Police Department officers and telecommunicators participated in their SWAC event on Dec. 4, where they took underprivileged children in the area shopping at the Johnsburg Walmart Supercenter located at 3801 Running Brook Farm Boulevard.

According to the MCPC, about 200 youths are chosen each year to participate in the SWAC event. Participants are picked up at their residence by a police officer from their jurisdiction and taken to a local Walmart to shop.

Currently, each participant in the SWAC event is given the ability to purchase a coat, boots, hat, and gloves if needed. Children are also given $150 to spend on gifts for themselves and their family members.

In prior years, after shopping, participants were taken to breakfast at D’Andrea’s Banquets and Conference Center in Crystal Lake, but after a fire destroyed the building back in April, the location for breakfast has had to change.

The McHenry Police Department stated that this year, breakfast for its participants was catered by Brunch Café and held at the McHenry Recreation Center.

Volunteers helped serve breakfast to the children as well as helped wrap the presents they had picked out on their shopping trip.

After breakfast, the children returned home with their parents.

“We would like to thank all of the law enforcement personnel and volunteers who donated their time for this amazing event. We also wanted to thank Brunch Café, Walmart, Buss Ford, and McHenry County Police Charities. Because of all of you coming together we were able to make the holidays memorable for the group of children involved,” said the McHenry Police Department on their Facebook page.