Our Story
Maryville Police and Fire Chief Tony Crisp, who along with retired Blount County Sheriff Officer, Chief Deputy Ron Dunn, was instrumental in getting the program started, said it all began with one 9-year-old boy.
Crisp and Dunn got to know the child when he attended a Fraternal Order of Police summer camp in 1989. The boy’s mother died not long after. At their Christmas party that year, Crisp and Dunn passed a hat to their fellow law enforcement officers and used the money to take that boy Christmas shopping. It’s only grown since.
Each year at our main service event, Shop With a Cop helps between 70-100 under-served and at risk children depending on community needs and funding. We rely heavily on the generosity of Blount County’s great citizens and businesses to give so that these children can have a happy and memorable Christmas.
Our Mission
Since the beginning, our mission has been to help ensure that all Blount County children have a special Christmas, regardless of their circumstances. Over the past 30 years, we have evolved to help children outside of the Christmas season as well. The service provided to children is not only that of satisfying material needs, but to additionally serve them by providing them with positive experiences with law enforcement officers and the law enforcement community. Many children identified through this program have only negative memories or personal experiences with officers. Left untended, these negative feelings and emotions could carry into the teenage years and adulthood. By serving these children in uniform, the officers hope to enforce a different image for them to hold onto - an image of trustworthy, caring men and women who are there to help and assist them with whatever needs they have.
VOLUNTEER
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