LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Several Louisville Metro Police cruisers were parked outside the Outerloop Ross Dress for Less on Wednesday for LMPD's Sixth Division 'Shop with a Cop' program.
Five officers took a break from patrolling the streets to focus on one mission: finding the perfect present.
"I don't want to just find whatever fits, I want to find something that's cute that they're going to wear for a while," said Officer Holly Exley.
Exley and the others spent over an hour building new wardrobes for 13 kids living in their area, while others were at Walmart picking out toys.
"I'm glad these kids will be able to wake up to something, because you have some parents that say, 'I gave up on Christmas,' with the pandemic and people losing their jobs, they didn't know what to do," Officer Amber Ross said. "I had one family that said they're struggling to buy a Christmas tree, so I'm just happy we can do a little something for them to brighten up that day."
Officer Ross organized Wednesday's shopping spree, and though COVID-19 kept most of the kids at home this year, she did bring along 13-year-old DanAsya Wilford and her father.
"They lost their mother in April to an illness and after hearing their story, I couldn't take that situation away from her," Officer Ross explained. "She needed to get out of the house and shop with me and have some girl on girl interaction and be able to talk, and laugh."
Wilford told WHAS11 News she felt special knowing Officer Ross wanted to spend the day with her.
"This is a blessing because nobody just gets picked to come shopping," Wilford said.
Ross is also the founder of 'No Girl Lost,' a program that focuses on helping teenagers that are struggling.
"I want you to know that you matter, because you do matter, no matter what you have going on at home, you matter," she explained.
It's a message the other officers shopping today hope kids receiving gifts will understand.
"You always want to help people out," Officer Exley said. "It's kind of why I think most people wanted to be the police is to help people out, so to be able to do something like this is just really great "
"Just to be able to put a smile on a kid's face Christmas morning is pretty special," said Officer Katie Gosphoel.
Ross said they will wrap and deliver the gifts later this week.
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