Posted on 12/31/2009 08:05

'Shop With a Cop': State police give back to kid By Mark Hofmann CONNELSVILLE DAILY COURIER Tuesday, December 22, 2009 The first of what's hoped to be many Shop With a Cop outings occurred Monday at the Mt. Pleasant Wal-Mart. The state police at Greensburg recently joined with multiple police departments and local Wal-Mart locations to reach out to children of unfortunate circumstances this past year to receive presents a little early. "This is the first year for this, but my interest is to have it grow," said Trooper Stephen Limani, public information officer with the state police at Greensburg, who said the program allows children to have a meet and greet with a local police officer. The children then accompany the police officer throughout the store to purchase $50 in items not including electronics. Limani said children will be able to exchange items for other items or for different sizes if they purchased clothing, but cannot exchange items for cash. For this first year, Limani said he was able to have Shop With a Cop events at four Wal-Mart locations including Mt. Pleasant, Latrobe, Greensburg and Delmont. Each Wal-Mart has donated $200 gift cards for the children to use, and along with an extra $200 from another business owner in Latrobe, a total of 20 children were able to shop at those Wal-Mart locations. "Wal-Mart went out of their way to make this happen," said Limani, who was just recently appointed to the Greensburg barracks. Bob Mathers, store manager of the Mt. Pleasant Wal-Mart, said that an earlier jump next year will yield more children receiving gift cards for the program. Yesterday, he allowed all four children to pick out and take a coat at no charge in addition to the $50 gift certificate. Limani said anyone interested in donating or participating in the Shop With a Cop program may call 724-832-6485.