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WARREN -- Eleven-year-old Zai Cleveland had everybody but himself in mind when stuffing his cart during the annual Shop with a Cop event at the Bazetta Township Walmart on Wednesday evening.
"When I asked him where the first place he wanted to go was, I thought he'd say to the toys but he told me the first thing he wanted was a candle for his mother,"Jessica Gollan, a six-year officer with the Warren Police Department, said.
Going over the items in his cart, Zai, a fifth-grader from Warren, said he also was excited to fight his cousins with the nerf gun he bought and "stimulate his mind," with three rubik's cubes he also had stashed away.
Gollan was one of 19 officers from the Warren Police Department helping assist about 30 families with children who participated in the event.
Children were tasked with finding $125 worth of items for themselves and others.
Across the country, police departments host "Shop With a Cop" programs during the holiday season, showing the community a human side to the badge.
As children overtook the toy section of Walmart, police officers accompanied the kids through the aisles, keeping a calculator on standby to keep track of how much money each child was spending.
Detective Brian Crites said the department was able to raise $5,100 for this year's event with about $2,300 worth coming from the department's "No Shave November and December" challenge where each officer bought in for $75 to raise funds for the event and bring awareness to breast cancer.
The remaining donations poured in from the VFW Post 1090 in Warren, which contributed $1,000; Hynes Industries in Youngstown donated $500; P4 Industries in Beaver Falls, Pa, donated $1,200.
"We've been trying to get back to being in the community," Crites said. "The motto used to be it takes a community to raise a child and we want to be involved with our children."
Crites said the local children were recommended to the police by Warren City Schools resource officers and school administrators who picked families who needed a little extra help this Christmas buying gifts.
Teachers from the school also were at the event to help accompany their students and police officers during the shopping spree.
Remembering a time growing up in Warren when community police units were a staple of the community, Crites said it gives a younger group of officers a chance to get involved.