La Salle PD Officer Santa Program is thankful for community support through pandemic

While COVID-19 has altered traditional plans, Director of the La Salle PD Officer Santa Program Brian Camenisch is determined to make sure the program can continue to help children and families in need.

Camenisch never thought the sixth year of the Officer Santa program would coincide with a pandemic, but he believes the work officers do for families in La Salle is more important now than ever.

“It’s a great Christmas experience with our officers.”

—  La Salle Police Officer Brian Camenisch, director of La Salle PD Officer Santa Program

“It’s really good for our officers to interact with these younger children and for them to see that cops aren’t bad,” Camenisch said. “They get a good feeling about officers, and it’s a great Christmas experience with our officers.”

For the local officers, the program is not just about giving back, but also for establishing a relationship with the children and families in the community they serve.

The program relies on charitable donations from local businesses, organizations and individuals to make sure the holidays are a little more jolly for those in need.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the program had received about 50 donors of various sizes to the charitable organization.

The pandemic has caused hardships for small businesses and restaurants in the area that traditionally have contributed to the program. Camenisch said they refrained from their traditional donation drive, but he has still seen many people willing to give generously.

“The numbers are up, but the donations are down a little bit,” Camenisch said. “Some of the businesses have really stepped up and doubled their donations. Some businesses, even being restaurants and taverns, have stepped up and have given us significant donations to help the program out.”

Traditionally the program would load up a truck with personally wrapped gifts and parade Santa through the town as he delivers the gifts to families throughout La Salle. The volunteering officers would hand-deliver the gifts and interact with the child recipients.

Families that participate in the program provide officers lists of needs and wants. The volunteering officers then go shopping and pick out items from the list to try and give the children a traditional Santa experience.

The needs for the children can include coats, shoes, pajamas, socks and anything essential to the health and well-being of the children.

Aside from wants and needs, the families also receive food cards for local grocery stores to help cover as many needs as possible.

This year, in efforts to keep everyone safe, the officers will drop the gifts off at the front door.

The delivery parade took place Saturday to allow the officers to spend as much time with their families over the holiday season as possible.

“That’s going to be a challenge this year. Normally we go into the residence and spend a little time with the family, and they get to take a picture with Officer Santa,” Camenisch said. “This year we just get to bring them to the door and wish them a Merry Christmas because of the pandemic.”

Camenisch originally took over the program in its second year and has seen it grow to help more than 150 families and 400 children over its six years in existence.

Moving forward, Camenisch wants to see the program continue to grow and expand. Unfortunately, the need for a program such as this has not gone away, as officers want to ensure everyone can take part and feel joy on the holidays.

Camenisch said that within the department, they have about a 98% participation rate.

“Nearly all of our officers participate, and that really shows that the department as a whole really cares about this program and makes it happen every year,” Camenisch said.

Camenisch also hinted at the possibility of bringing surrounding police departments into the program to help those in other communities.