A selected number of kids from the community joined members of the Regina Police Service for a Christmas shopping spree at Cornwall Centre Wednesday.
The event was Cops and Kids, an initiative that is a partnership between Regina Police Service, Cornwall Centre, and TRIP — The Regina Intersectoral Partnership.
20 children were paired up with a Regina police officer for their shopping spree at the Cornwall Centre. The kids, between 10 and 12 years old, were chosen based on their hard work and the positive strides they made towards achieving their goals, whether those be personal or educational goals.
Fifteen of the kids were part of TRiP while the other five were chosen by their School Resource Officers.
“They worked really hard in school and they deserve this opportunity,” said Regina Police Chief Farooq Sheikh about this initiative. “It’s about partnership and collaboration and working together.”
He noted picking 20 children to participate was hard. But he said it sent a positive message: “Work hard, stay focused and good things can happen.”
Sheikh himself was paired up with a child for the day to go shopping. He saw it as an opportunity to build trust and confidence between the kids and members of the police force at the right point in their young lives.
“The kid I’m going to be with, I’m going to talk to him about policing in the future as a career, and what you need to do to be able to consider that,” said Sheikh.
“Sometimes we leave it too late, and by that time they may have gotten in trouble with the police. This is an opportunity for great kids to be given hope and be given things that they probably wouldn’t get, and also it’s a nice time for their parents to see that what we as an organization, what all our partners are doing, what our call centre and everybody has to do together to try and make it a better Christmas for everyone else.”
This initiative has gone on at Cornwall Centre for the past eight years. Katie Dockham, Marketing Manager of Cornwall Centre, said the partnership is first and foremost for them.
“We have a very strong partnership with RPS, and through that have developed a really strong partnership with TRiP over the years,” said Dockham.
Dockham said Cornwall Centre donates $200 to each of these children to spend on items during their shopping spree. She sees it as one of Cornwall Centre’s biggest opportunities of the year to give back.
“These kids work really hard for this opportunity and we want to be able to be a part of that,” she said.
