By Kyle Hansen
loudounextra.com Staff Writer
Thursday, December 13, 2007
At age 11, Pierre Kouam knows that he wants to be a pastor when he grows up. Thanks to the Santa Cop program, he now has a new pair of shoes and a suit to wear to church, as well as new clothes to wear to school.
"I want an outfit that goes with everything," Pierre said Saturday as he hurried into the shoes section of the Target store on Edwards Ferry Road NE in Leesburg.
"Me, too," said his 8-year-old brother, Alain, who was close behind.
The Kouams were among more than 50 Loudoun County children who each enjoyed a $200 shopping spree at Target on Saturday morning as a gift from the Loudoun-Dulles Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police.
The FOP has been sponsoring the event every year since the lodge opened in 1998. Its 150 members represent a variety of local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies.
Lodge Vice President Ken Fognano helped the Kouams pick out what they wanted at the store. "To me, it's what being a cop is all about," the Loudoun County sheriff's investigator said. "The youth are the most important part of my job."
The FOP worked with county schools to identify children whose families might not be able to afford holiday gifts. FOP members raised money for the event mostly through a letter-writing campaign soliciting donations from local residents.
Jerry Hill, the Kouams' principal at Ball's Bluff Elementary, said the event was an opportunity for some of his students to pick up items they not only want but sorely need.
"Some of these kids have never been shopping like this before," he said. "These kids went straight to the clothes and shoes, to things they need rather than to the entertainment things. They passed the toys to come over here."
Many of them picked up gifts for their siblings. Seven-year-old Karen Alcon had a shopping cart full of toys but said most of them were for her three sisters.
Ten-year-old Thomas Castleberry had his wish list written on a small scrap of paper. He pulled two games off the shelf and carefully placed them in the shopping cart -- one for him, one for his brother -- while Purcellville Police Sgt. Joseph Schroeck kept a tally of the cost.
Mary Hylton, who was at Target with her 9-year-old great-grandson, Austin Cox, said that in addition to providing for the needs of children, the event was an opportunity for children to learn to respect police.
"There are so many children that don't have this advantage," she said. "The only contact they have with the law is when they do something wrong."
Hylton has been raising Austin since he was 3 months old. She also raised his older brother for many years.
"They don't know what it is like to have a mother and father for Christmas," she said of her great-grandsons. "If I didn't take them in, I don't know where they would be."
She said Austin's 13-year-old brother moved out of state to live with his grandmother, Hylton's daughter, three years ago.
"We won't see them for Christmas," Hylton said. "This kind of thing helps to make up for that."
Loudoun sheriff's lieutenant Ed Leonard helped Austin select his gifts. "I miss having the one-on-ones with the youth," said Leonard, explaining that as a station commander he stays mostly in the office. "It is great just to see the smiles on their faces.
"I have this boy's number now, and I will call him up through the year and see how he is doing," Leonard added. "And [his great-grandmother] has my number in case they ever need anything."
After the shopping was done, the children were able to sit on Santa's lap and tell them what else they wanted before the FOP treated them and their families to breakfast at the International House of Pancakes across the street.
Lodge Secretary John Ohrnberger, an investigator with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, said the event was a big change from the problems most of the officers are used to dealing with as part of their jobs.
"It's an emotional thing for a lot of these officers," he said. "In dealing with a lot of dysfunctional families over the years, you don't get to see the other side a lot -- times when you can do something good. This is a chance to do something good."
Dan Farrel, a retired Fairfax County sheriff's deputy, agreed.
"When a cop is at your door, it is not usually to bring a gift. It is to bring you bad news," he said. "They don't get a lot of chances to bring a smile to someone's face.
"In all the years that I had this job, in 27 years, I never got as good a feeling as I get from doing this."
View all comments that have been posted about this article.