Local school children shop with ‘Heroes’

GALLUP – Gallup McKinley County’s “Shop with Our Heroes” program brought holiday spirit to roughly 55 students from Gallup McKinley County Schools. Each student was paired with a police officer or firefighter to shop at Walmart in Gallup.

Students were selected by either their school counselors, police officers, or the McKinley County Children Youth & Families Department. These children have been heavily impacted by domestic violence and are at-risk students.

Each student was provided with a $180 budget and was able to purchase for themselves or for family members. However, for security purposes if a student wanted to buy a phone, the program would need permission from parents or guardians before embarking on the shopping excursion.

With generous support, local non-profit organization Strengthening Nations was able to become physical sponsors to help lead the program’s efforts with Chee and Timaris Montano, both with State Farm Insurance in Gallup.

According to Timaris, the program’s coordinator, Diné jeweler Aaron Anderson donated one of his tufa bracelets, which is valued at roughly $1,250, and they held a raffle fundraiser. It was to raise funds for the students’ budget.

Name change

Because “Shop with a Cop” is a well-known name of a membership program for law enforcement, and since the program added first responders to be part of it, the program was renamed “Gallup’s Shop with Our Heroes” and sought out Strengthening Nations for support.

Timaris said Strengthening Nations was a huge support in helping raise money and they could have not done it without them.

“We all found each other,” said Pat Nelson, founder and executive director with Strengthening Nations. “It’s really heartbreaking to hear these stories.”

Nelson was referring to the process of how children were selected and listening to their stories of the unbalanced environment in which they find themselves, which she described as heartbreaking.

Christian Vasquez, the co-founder and deputy director of Strengthening Nations, shared that their organization was grateful to be involved, especially as a sole supporter. “It’s really cool to see the kids have a Christmas of their own,” he said.

On Dec. 9, when the kids arrived at Walmart, CYFD checked them in and partnered them with an officer or a firefighter, and then the shopping adventure began for the excited kids.
Vasquez said he saw a few students buy their mom a blanket, a jacket for their brother, or socks for their sister.

“It was kind of nice,” Vasquez said. “It was kind of like passing it forward and kind of like, ‘Hey, I have an opportunity, but I can give, too,’” Vasquez said.

How it started

In 2018 the Montanos were approached by the Gallup Police Department to assist with a family of six after the mother had tragically passed in an accident. The father was a truck driver who was unable to work anymore, which left the family struggling.

Gallup Police officers knew the kids were excellent students in school, so they requested support from the Montanos to create a Christmas for the family to remember. They provided a Christmas tree, presents, and groceries.

That supportive effort inspired a yearly tradition to bridge a relationship with law enforcement to the community. Because of the negative impact that children encounter at home when witnessing domestic violence, or alcohol/drug abuse, police officers are often the ones children see first during catastrophic events.

Five years later, the impact has become widely known and, according to Timaris, the program that began with 20 kids has since revamped and grown this Christmas to 55 kids.

The prior program involved the Gallup Police Department, Gallup McKinley County Sheriff, New Mexico State Police, and Crownpoint Navajo Police Department. This year, Timaris said, it added Ramah, Zuni, and Window Rock Navajo Police Departments. The Gallup Fire Department joined the program as well. This resulted in roughly 48 officers from all of departments combined.

Besides the gift of giving, Timaris emphasized that a primary goal of the annual tradition is to bridge the relationship with children and first responders.
Children may purchase toys, clothes, shoes, groceries, and so forth, but not a pre-paid phone.

If a student is buying groceries, the program provides the family with gift cards from the Gallup Community Pantry.

The program hopes to grow with more partnerships and collaboration. One student shared with Nelson that she wished she could bring her siblings along for the experience.

The main purpose is to alleviate the barriers between the students and police officers by having the students spend a day with an officer. However, if barriers are still there, the firefighters are there to help assist if a student does not feel comfortable with an officer.

“Of course, you want to include everybody,” said Nelson, “but like Christian said, they (students) thought about their grandma or grandpa or their family back at home. Even one student bought a bag of dog food.”

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