Atlantic Police Officers and the Reserves helped area families in need in two ways, this past weekend. On Saturday, Reserve Officers from the Atlantic Police Department held their annual “Family Dream Christmas” program. There was a total of 13 families helped in the program this year. Eight families were taken shopping by reserves to local businesses in Atlantic. This included shopping for all members of their families. They also received a full Christmas Dinner, including a turkey and ham.

Family Dream Christmas 2017 (Photo courtesy Atlantic P-D)

The families also received a gift card to a local grocery store to help with food and meat cost during the holiday season. The Police Department provided five additional families with a trip through the Reserve Departments toy room, which includes new toys that are donated throughout the year. The children in those families were allowed to go through the toy room and pick out a few items each that they would like to have.

Those families were also provided with the same Christmas dinner and gift card. All together, this weekend’s “Family Dream Christmas” and “Shop with a Cop” programs, the Atlantic Police and Reserve Departments were able to help a total of 76 children and 20 adults within 29 families to have a much more joyful Christmas experience. Officials say they would not be able to run those programs without the wonderful donations we receive each year.

Shop with a Cop 2017. A-PD Photo

Chief Dave Erickson and his Officers want to thank all those private individuals who donated, and the following companies and groups: Joe Dirt Memorial Pool Tournament, Cappel’s Ace Hardware, JBG Farms Corp. Kerrie Orozco 5k Memorial Run, The Employees at Fagen Inc., OSI “Oakland Foods” Employees The Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Atlantic Hy-Vee, Richter & Son Towing Atlantic Wal-Mart, The Atlantic News & Telegraph, The “Ladies Night Out” Event, Atlantic Carriers Deter Motor Company, Lindeman Tractor, Atlantic Subway, Atlantic BPW Brown’s Shoe Fit, Atlantic NGA Club, Atlantic Boy Scouts, Meyer and Gross Real Estate Agents Mailander Law Firm, United Group Insurance, Golden Rule Chapter #194, R/T Motors T/S Bank, Shiels Family Farm, Mark Phippen Trucking, The Employees at Schuler Manufacturing U.S. Cellular, Beta Sigma Phi, Pelgas, Griswold Coop, and JM Double B LLC

(For more images from these two programs, see the Atlantic Police Department Facebook page)