Each year, members of the Petal Police Department and the community look forward to the police department’s Shop With a Cop Program, in which officers take Christmas shopping trips with Petal children.
The excitement for this year’s Shop With a Cop is already brewing, thanks to Tom and Kim Pipkins, owners of T&D Towing in Petal, who recently organized a softball tournament to raise $2,886 for the event.
“We just want to make sure that Shop With a Cop has enough money to help these needy kids,” Kim Pipkins said. “We opened the towing company in Petal, and we wanted to start helping the police department on different things that they were doing.
“Somebody has mentioned us helping with the K-9 (unit) next, and we’re bound to do whatever we need to do to help our law enforcement.”
The Pipkins also sponsored the police department’s “Hunks in Heels” beauty pageant in May, in which men dress in women’s clothing to compete for first-place, first alternate and best talent awards. Aaron Jernigan was named the Hunk In Heels at this year’s event, which raised $3,228 for the Shop With a Cop program.
“Our goal (with the softball tournament) was to raise more money than the pageant, but we didn’t quite go that far,” Kim Pipkins said. “But hey, every little dollar helps.”
Indeed it does, and members of the police department are grateful for the Pipkins’ assistance.
“They were absolutely helpful,” said Miranda Williams, who serves as administrative assistant at Petal Police Department and coordinator for Shop With a Cop. “They did the whole (pageant) – they planned everything, they did concessions and worked it, and I believe they didn’t get finished until after midnight.
“It’s a great help to have other people in the community respect the (Shop With a Cop) program and see how much it benefits the community, that they’re willing to take on projects and fundraise for us.”
Shop With a Cop was instituted in 2003 to help families buy Christmas presents for their children. The program allows police officers to have lunch with children, and gives kids the chance to tour police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles like the Rescue 7 helicopter.
At the end of the day, officers meet the children at Walmart to take them shopping for Christmas gifts.
“It’s something that everybody enjoys – all the officers enjoy it because they see so much heartache throughout the year,” Williams said. “It’s their chance to give back, and that’s what they really enjoy.”
