Ordinarily, to see an entire fleet of police cars in the parking lot is not a good sign.
Ordinarily, to see an entire fleet of police cars in the parking lot is not a good sign. Last Thursday afternoon, however, the Richmond Police vehicles parked outside the Forest Hill Target were harbingers of goodwill.
Past the deodorant and pet food aisles, behind the door labeled “Employees Only,” the positive energy is palpable. Around 30 kids in bright yellow YMCA shirts sit at tables together with police officers in uniform, some chattering excitedly, others coloring pictures, and still others hungrily eyeing the piles of sandwiches on a nearby table.
This is YMCA’s Bright Beginnings, a program that provides children in need with clothes and supplies for back-to-school via an evening with a volunteer shopping partner.
Bright Beginnings is the YMCA’s largest outreach program and serves around 2,000 kids throughout the Richmond Metro Area. Tonight the students’ shopping buddies are Richmond Police officers, hence the catchy unofficial name— Shop with a Cop.
A hush falls over the room as Tricia Puryear, Vice President of Community Engagement and Collaborations at the YMCA of Greater Richmond, outlines the evening’s events and guidelines.
She explains that the kids each have $100 to spend. “The idea,” she says, “is to get two outfits at least…and then a pair of shoes, some socks, [and] some undies.” The room erupts in giggles at the word “undies.” Puryear shakes her head and smiles: “It happens every time.”
Kids’ names are called and they are matched with a police officer. Introductions conclude with shy high fives or handshakes, and then groups are sent out to shop. Tonight the kids range in age from Kindergarten to 6th grade, and come from a variety of Richmond-area schools.
Puryear explains that kids are selected because they either have a relationship with the Y through their involvement in a YMCA program, or because they have a relationship with a YMCA partner organization, like the Richmond Police Department.
Sergeant Carol Adams volunteers to shop with three girls: Arshae, Shaniya, and Blanca. She happily leads the group around the Target store, picking out shoes and fashionable outfits in the right sizes. Adams says she enjoys the Shop with a Cop event because “The officers get to meet the children one-on-one, get to shop with them and ask them what they like, what they don’t like.”
She holds Blanca’s hand and walks her down the shoe aisles. “Do you like boots?” Adams asks her. Blanca nods vigorously and points to a pair of glittery pink Hello Kitty boots; Sergeant Adams adds them to the basket. Shaniya pushes through hangers, looking for her size. “Do you think I could fit a medium?” she asks, holding up a plaid shirt for Adams’ approval.
Items slowly fill the cart—a gray t-shirt, two pairs of black leggings, three eight-packs of undies. The group pauses occasionally to figure out how much money each person has left to spend, carefully calculating sale prices.
Sergeant Adams has been volunteering with the Y for about 11 or 12 years, she thinks, since before the Police Department was involved. Adams believes Shop with a Cop is a valuable experience for students, because it helps dispel misconceptions they might have about police officers.
“It actually allows that child to have some ownership in knowing a police officer,” she explains. “Specifically in times like now when there’s so much opposition going on in relation to the police.”
Many children have never gotten to interact with a police officer on a personal level, Adams says. “You’ll have a child that’s kind of withdrawn and that’s human nature because of the uniform, especially if they’ve never been around a uniformed person or if they’ve just only seen someone be arrested.”
Shopping with the kids, Adams says, “gives [children] some private, quality time with the police officer,” and enables them to see them as human beings despite the uniforms.
“Really, all cops, guys and gals, are just big little people anyway,” Adams says, “because we were all kids at some point in time.” After shopping together, Adams and the girls will return to the Target break room to enjoy sandwiches and chat about their interests, along with all of the other Shop with a Cop groups.
Both Puryear and Adams emphasize that the kids’ families are not isolated from this program. Puryear explains that the YMCA has relationships with the children’s parents and that, in many cases, parents encourage their children to go so they can see that police officers are people they can trust.
After the evening is over, the cops will drive the children home and converse with the family. Sergeant Adams says, “[We’re] also connecting the families to the police because the parents allow the children to come to be with us…we’re actually building a relationship with the parents and the children.” Puryear adds, “[The parents] are not disconnected.”
Bright Beginnings aims to be one touch point of many for these kids, Puryear says. The Y strives to provide a “continuum of care” for children, meaning that these programs don’t operate in isolation. “Bright Beginnings isn’t just a one and done,” Puryear explains, “we’ll see [these kids] again when they’re after school with us, again when they’re in our learn to swim program—we’re going to always stay in their continuum of care.”
The cops build lasting relationships with the children, too. Adams says she has had young people come to intern with her at the police department whom she has shopped with and known since they were little kids. “I always continue my relationship with the family,” she says.
Near the end of the evening, I sit down with elementary school student Marlique and ask him about his favorite part of the event. “I love shopping!” he exclaims enthusiastically, and then tells me he ate two sandwiches and four bags of chips.
Despite his excitement, Bright Beginnings isn’t really about the “stuff” that the kids buy. Puryear says, “It’s really more about the confidence underneath that it gives them.”
And in terms of relationships with police officers, Sergeant Adams says, “[The kids] don’t forget a positive experience.”
