Shop With A Hero encourages goodwill in the community

By Edward Gehlert, Staff Writer
Posted 12/8/21

LINN  — On Saturday, the Linn Police Department spearheaded what is hoped will become a new tradition in Osage County with its Shop With A Hero holiday program.

Around the first of this …

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Shop With A Hero encourages goodwill in the community

Posted

LINN  — On Saturday, the Linn Police Department spearheaded what is hoped will become a new tradition in Osage County with its Shop With A Hero holiday program.

Around the first of this year, Chief Michael Bickell came up with the idea of creating an event that would help local kids while also encouraging community outreach among public service organizations. 

After communicating his thoughts with other organizations he received help from the Osage County Health Department (OCHD), the Osage County - Anti Drug Community Action Team (OC-ADCAT), and the Central Missouri Community Action Group (CMCA) to plan a shopping experience between children and those that protect and serve the community.

“I got with the other first responders that participated, but the other entities actually were the ones that put a lot of thought into it,” said Bickell.

Funding for the event was provided through donations by local businesses.

“All the funds came from local donors,” said Bickell. “Everybody was pretty much from around the Linn area; however one was from the Meta area.” 

Donations allowed participants to shop at Linn Thriftway and Dollar General in Linn, granting each child a budget of $100 per location so they could purchase gifts for themselves, family members, and friends. Most of the children purchased things for other people.

“In other events like this, what we noticed is the majority of people have a good heart,” said Bickell. “When they are given something they try to go out and help others in their family or other people. They try to pay it forward. A lot of places that do this give like a $100 total. In today’s society, $100 gets almost nothing. That’s the reason we did a $100 at Dollar General and a $100 at Thriftway so they didn’t have to sacrifice. We wanted to make sure they at least had a meal for their family.”

Santa Claus met the kids at Dollar General and handed out candy to them after they had completed making their purchases. Father Christmas then joined the crowd as they headed to Thriftway to complete their shopping.  

Thriftway also hosted a wrap party during the event where snacks and drinks were provided while volunteers wrapped gifts. 

Bickell was pleased with the turnout and would like to expand it next year to include youth from all over Osage County and not just Linn.

“I’ve already reached out to some of the organizations in the area to help out next year,” said Bickell. “I want everyone to know I’m not taking their money and going to Walmart. We were able to shop one local business for toys and clothes and another local business for food.”

Children enrolled at St. George School and Linn R-2 were eligible to participate in Shop With A Hero, with school faculty being responsible for selecting those they felt would benefit the most from the experience. Of 20 selected students (five from St. George and 15 from Linn R-2), 11 attended the event.

Organizations that participated in Shop With A Hero included Linn Police Department, Osage County Sheriffs department, Osage Ambulance District, Meta Fire, Maries Osage Ambulance District, the U.S. Military, Linn Fire Protection District, OCHD, Morrison Volunteer Fire Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the Missouri Department of Corrections.