Cecil police connect with community at 2nd annual “Shop with a Cop”
Gideon Bradshaw/Observer-Reporter
Lt. Rich Egizio of Cecil police helps Lauren Capra, 9, and her brother, Brian, 6, pick out Christmas gifts Saturday during the department’s second annual “Shop with a Cop” event.
Gideon Bradshaw/Observer-Reporter
Officer Matt Shaffer of Cecil police helps Heather Willison and her sons, Barrett, 6, and Layne, 3, select a TV Saturday.
Pausing as she walked the aisles of Walmart in South Strabane Township Saturday, Jill Capra couldn’t stop thanking Cecil police.
“I don’t have enough nice things to say about Cecil police and all of the things they do,” she said.
For Capra, that’s especially true after she lost her husband back in June. On Saturday, she and her two children were among the families participating in the second annual “Shop with a Cop” at the Trinity Pointe store.
Cecil police Chief Shawn Bukovinsky said 18 officers from the department volunteered their time to help the families of 34 township children in grades K-6, who were identified with the help of local schools, to pick out Christmas gifts.
“We’re here to serve the public, and this is another opportunity that we wouldn’t typically have,” he said.
Township police Lt. Rich Egizio, who went to school with Jill’s late husband, David, was helping Lauren Capra, 9, and her little brother, Justin, 6, as the youngsters looked at toys.
“It’s great just to build the relationships with the kids and their families,” Egizio said.
Walmart managers said their company and Southpointe-based roofing company CentiMark Corp. contributed a total of $15,000 this year to pay for the children’s gifts.
Standing near the registers, Mark Mikesell, a Pittsburgh-area manager with the company, said he’d seen one girl, about 10 years old, buy two laptops – one for herself and one for her family.
“(The kids) are super excited to go shop,” Mikesell said. “But they’re super excited to buy for their families.”
Officer Keith Strain said he’d had similar experiences.
“The really nice thing is – I did this last year, too, and the kids always want to get things for other people,” Strain said.