Santa Cops golf tourney returns for second year
DAILY FORUM FILE PHOTO
Maryville Public Safety Officer Mike Stolte, left, and MPS Sgt. Ryan Glidden fill a shopping cart with toys at Wal-Mart last December during the 2016 Santa Cops for Kids shopping spree. More than 30 children from lower-income families took part in the event, with each child receiving $150 to spend on presents for themselves and others.
With vacation season well underway and the Fourth of July just around the corner, Christmas may seem like a long way off.
But Maryville Department of Public Safety officers are already working to make sure that local children from low-income families will have plenty of presents under the tree when old St. Nick returns in December.
Local police will host the second annual Santa Cops for Kids Putting for Presents Golf Tournament beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 8, at the Sechrest 18 course at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.
The event is being organized as a four-person-team, scramble-style tournament. Cost to enter is $200 per team or $50 per player.
Registration includes green and cart fees and a post-event meal. Sponsorship opportunities are available.
The Santa Cops for Kids Program was founded five years by law enforcement officers from several agencies serving jurisdictions embracing all or part of Nodaway County.
In addition to MPS, participating agencies include the Northwest Missouri State University Police Department, Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Santa Cops fundraisers over the course of the year bring in contributions used to fund a Christmastime shopping event, during which uniformed officers help children pick out presents and clothing at local stores.
Maryville Officer Ian Myers, who is coordinating the event again this year, said that, in some cases, children request that Santa Cops money be used to purchase food for their families, an experience he described as “heartbreaking” for the volunteers involved.
Myers said last year was the biggest ever for the program, both in terms of the number of families assisted and the amount of money raised and spent.
In 2015, 10 children took part in the shopping night and received gift cards good for $100 worth of merchandise. In 2016, three times that number of youngsters hit the aisles at Wal-Mart, each with $150 to spend.
The expanded effort, Myers said, was made possible through additional funding sources, especially the inaugural Putting for Presents event and a grant from the Gladys M. Rickard Charitable Trust.
Santa Cops fundraising events were also hosted by local businesses, including Westlake Ace Hardware and Pizza Ranch.
Myers said Tuesday the department is seeking a second Rickard grant this year and hopes to procure enough funding from all sources to take at least 30 children shopping.
“I’d like for us to be able to stick around the 30-kid mark, and if we can increase that it would be great,” Myers said. “What we don’t want is to fall below that level. Our hope is to do at least as well as we did last year.”
Next month’s tournament will offer a variety of prizes for both teams and individual golfers, and Myers said a number of teams have already signed up.
Those seeking more information about the tournament, or who want to register, should call Maryville Public Safety at 660-562-3209.
