It’s one of the best parties of the year – the Shop With A Cop party at McHenry VFW, this year scheduled for 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 18th. But it takes a lot of heart to make the party such a success. That party starts with all the people who make contributions before the event.

What do they contribute? You name it. In the past, they’ve contributed everything from dog training lessons to African safaris. Yes, you read that right – African safaris were auctioned off in the Live Auction at the event.

Prizes, such as certificates for dog training, are usually found in the silent auction or raffle sections of the events. By sections, this refers to the table-after-table assortment of prizes that attendees have a chance to win. The raffle items are won by purchasing raffle tickets and dropping them, individually, into cups by each prize. The silent auction, well, you know how that works.

The point is that there are so many prizes that it’s difficult to walk away without winning something. Of course, the real winners are the children who benefit from Shop With A Cop.

The event is hosted by MC3, a McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce business networking group and McHenry County Police Charities. But, the police make the real contribution to this charity.

The way it works is that, with the money that is raised, children from families that are struggling, receive $150 for Christmas shopping at a local retail store, along with a winter coat, hat, gloves, and boots. The children are picked up, individually, by police officers driving their squad cars. The police serve as private chaperones for the children while they shop with the money they’ve received at an area department store.

When the shopping is done, members of MC3 and other volunteers wrap the presents while the children sit down for breakfast with their police officer chaperones. But, as was indicated above, it all starts with contributions from members of the community.

If you have something you’d like to donate, please, let us know. You can give us a call to make arrangements or you can drop your donation off at McHenry Savings Bank on Bank Drive. Each donation must be accompanied by a Sponsor/Prize Form, which you can find by following this link: http://www.mc3online.com/PDF/2017-SWAC%20SponsorPrizeFrm.pdf.

Whether you’re able to make a donation or not, however, we would love to see you at the party. This is one you don’t want to miss.