For the sixth year in a row, the Blaine Police Department teamed with Blaine SuperTarget to make the holiday season extra special for some local children. This year members of the Spring Lake Park–Blaine–Mounds View Fire Department and the Police Department joined together to help the children complete their holiday gift buying.

School social workers helped identify children from six local elementary schools, who needed an extra special holiday season. Target, with the help of employees, then put together a special holiday shopping event for each of these children.

To make the day special, the officers and firefighters picked up the children at school prior to their shopping spree. Once they arrived at SuperTarget, children received a donated gift card to complete holiday shopping for their family members.

Donations from Target and the Blaine Festival Committee were used to fund the donated gift cards. Funds were also set aside for non-gift necessities such as food, underwear, socks, boots, and mittens. Target also gave the children a 20% discount on their purchases, and a bag of food items to take home with them.

The children, many with shopping lists in hand, were paired with Police Officers, Firefighters Police Explorers, Community Service Officers, and Police Reserve Officers to guide them throughout the store. They were also treated to a meal at Target’s Food Avenue. After loading their carts and purchasing the presents, cops, firefighters, and kids gathered with Target employees to wrap the gifts.

At the end of the day, the Police Officers and Firefighters returned the children home with bags of presents to share with their families so they could help spread the holiday cheer at home this season.

For a photo recap and some really cute #Selfies, visit our Flickr Photo Recap.