‘Santa Cop’ looks to brighten holidays for Las Vegas youth

By Kyle B. Hansen

Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010 | 3:08 p.m.

Santa Claus had a new ride on Saturday.

His usual sleigh and reindeer were replaced by a Metro helicopter for a special visit to the Target store on Decatur Boulevard near Meadows Mall.

St. Nick’s visit was for the annual Santa Cop event, where police officers and other Metro employees give underprivileged children a chance to pick out free gifts for Christmas.

Santa landed in the store’s parking lot shortly after 7 a.m., greeted the children and was available for photos in the store as the kids did their shopping.

This year, 80 children were invited to the event, all between the ages of 3 and 12. A Metro employee helped each child to pick out gifts using a $150 gift card. Many of the employees also dipped into their own pockets to buy a little more.

Metro employees nominated the children throughout the year, Community Affairs manager Anne Sagel said.

“We ask our employees to keep an eye out all year long for families they may encounter while doing their jobs that are good people, worthy families but just really having a tough time,” she said.

Most of the $12,000 for the gifts was donated by Metro employees, with some help from Target, which also opened the store an hour early for the event and provided hot chocolate, coffee and doughnuts.

Some kids went straight for the toys and the big-ticket items, Sagel said, “But a lot of them just wanted shoes and coats and stuff. It wasn’t all about luxury items. A lot of the children just got what for most of us would be basic necessities.”

And some children even needed some encouragement before getting anything, Sagel said.

“(For) some of the kids, it actually took a few minutes for them to understand that they were allowed to pick out what they wanted,” she said. “I think that’s kind of a new concept to them.”

For the Metro employees, it was the reactions on the kids’ faces that made the event worth it, Sagel said.

“It’s really heart-warming when you see the kids smile, grin from ear to ear,” she said. “It makes us feel like we’re really doing something important for the community.”