Buchanan Elementary kindergarten student Delaney Steele couldn’t wait to show her mother, Nichole, what she received during the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Shop with a Sheriff event Saturday at Kmart.
“I got a castle, a big old castle with everything in it,” Delaney said as she pointed to the box. “See all these?”
She swung around an Elvis Presley tree ornament that changed songs.
Delaney was one of about 25 Rutherford County Schools students treated to a shopping spree thanks to the generosity of donors to the Shop with a Sheriff drive. The morning started with a buffet breakfast donated by Shoney’s restaurant on South Church Street. Great Clips donated hair cuts to each child.
Santa visited with the children and led the drive on a Rutherford County Fire and Rescue truck to Kmart where each child was matched with a school resource officer or sheriff’s office employee when they selected Christmas presents at Kmart.
Her mother, Nichole Steele, was pleased with the trip.
“It meant a lot to me because I wasn’t going to be able to afford Christmas,” Steele said, explaining she attends college and just moved to Rutherford County from Michigan.
“I don’t have money right now,” Steele said. “It meant Christmas for her. We weren’t going to be able to have one.”
Sheriff Robert F. Arnold helped Delaney and other children select toys. Arnold reached up to a higher shelf and selected toy sheriff toys.
“Do you want to be a sheriff?” Arnold asked the boy who reached for the toy.
Student Kaylee McCalahan came prepared with a shopping list. She and Detective Andrea Knox whirled through the aisles. She chose a pink bicycle and Knox made sure she chose a pink helmet for safety.
Arnold said while the younger students chose a buggy full of toys, many of the older students selected clothes. They knew what they needed, not what they wanted.
After shopping, the children posed for pictures with Santa sponsored by Shacklett’s Photography.
“It felt good to me and the deputies to help these kids to have a Christmas,” Arnold said.
Parents were very appreciative to the deputies for their time to raise money and take the children shopping because they weren’t able to have a Christmas, the sheriff added.
“I was very pleased with the success of our first of many to come Shop with the Sheriff,” Arnold said. “The kids loved it. Their reaction to seeing Santa made you feel all warm inside.”
Arnold thanked Toot’s South for sponsoring the Shop with a Sheriff fund-raising event, Shoney’s for donating breakfast, Kmart for hosting the shopping event, Great Clips for the free hair cuts, Shacklett’s Photography for taking the photographs, all the people who donated for the event, Rutherford County Fire and Rescue, the deputies and everyone involved.
Watch for the video of the event on the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
