Starke Shop with a Cop: Christmas joy for 400 kids

BY CLIFF SMELLEY

Telegraph Staff Writer

Santa’s making a list, and he’s checking it twice to see who’s been naughty or nice.

He can check it three or four times, if he wants, but what he’ll find is that the “nice” side of the list is overwhelmingly full when it comes to the annual Starke Shop with a Cop.

This year’s event was held Dec. 18-19 at Walmart in Starke. A total of 400 children from Bradford, Starke, Lawtey and Lake Butler elementary schools enjoyed a $100 shopping spree, escorted by members of law enforcement as well as the Florida Department of Corrections and other organizations.

If a child is participating in Starke Shop with a Cop, he or she isn’t just on Santa’s nice list. They are on their school’s nice list as well because in being selected by teachers, counselors and/or administrators, they have been identified as children who have some type of need (financial, emotional or psychological), but are striving to do their best in school despite that need.

Santa’s nice list would also include the people who serve as the children’s escorts. In many instances, you’re talking about people suiting up in their uniforms on their days off to help put smiles on children’s faces.

Of course, many will tell you they don’t mind doing so. If you observe the event, sometimes it’s hard to determine who’s having the most fun: the children or the adults.

Take William Jerrels, for example. He works at Cross City Correctional Institution, but there was no question in his mind about driving to Starke to take part in the event. He first became involved when he worked at a more local institution and has participated every year since, no matter where he’s worked, whether it be Florida State Prison, New River Correctional Institution, Reception and Medical Center and now, Cross City Correctional In fact, he even took part when he worked at Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry.

Jerrels said he enjoys his interaction with the children and getting the chance to see their joy and unselfishness.

“(It’s) just seeing how happy they are in getting to do this,” Jerrels said. “Most of the time, when you get a kid, he or she buys something for them and then their brother or their sister. They want to share this.

“That’s what I enjoy most about it.”

It is touching to see children want to buy for others, but Starke Shop with a Cop is a reward for those who actually take part in the event. Barry Warren, the event’s organizer, reminds escorts every year to make sure the children they accompany pick out items for them.

Starke Police Department’s Jason Molina talked to the Telegraph-Times-Monitor at the 2019 event, sharing how the child he escorted found it hard to think about himself.

“He really didn’t know what he wanted,” Molina said. “He kept asking about his siblings. I allowed him to buy for his siblings, but I also reminded him, ‘This is a day for you to get what you want.’ He made sure he got both his sisters something, which kind of touched my heart, that a 6-year-old would think of his siblings over himself.”

A child’s unselfishness is a reminder of a community’s unselfishness. So many individuals and businesses would find themselves on Santa’s nice list because of their support of Starke Shop with a Cop. The monetary donations are what determine just how many children get the chance to shop each year.

Year after year, the support continues to grow. When Starke Shop with a Cop began as a hastily organized event its first year, it consisted of 34 children.

The one-day event is now two days. It surpassed the 300-children mark in 2021 — 16 years after the inaugural event.

This year’s event consisted of 68 more children than in 2022.

Warren has said that Bradford County may be small, but it has the biggest heart. Perhaps he put it best when he was interviewed about the 2018 Starke Shop with a Cop: “I just grab the reins of the sleigh. Bradford County makes it happen every time.”

Now, it’s also people and businesses in Union County who are also stepping up to support the even so that Lake Butler Elementary students may attend. That makes Jerrels feel good.

“I was so glad to see Union County get involved in this because a lot of the people you see here doing this are from Union County,” Jerrels said.

Santa Claus provides toys for all the children of the world, but even he would probably be impressed with how two small, rural counties make Christmas such a joyful time for so many children.

Children doing good in school, adults, in turn, doing good by them — Santa doesn’t even need to consult his naughty list.