We have finalized the officer requests for our Christmas Day gift bags. These are the presents that Columbus Division of Police officers will be handing out to citizens they see on Christmas Day. It's the first year we've done it, and we're thrilled at the response from officers. We've had sign ups from all across the city, all three shifts. Mid-watch also signed up, as did K-9.
We'll be making a total of 250 adult bags, 250 child bags, and 100 homeless bags. Although the gifts are for Christmas Day, we're deliberately making them non-perishable and non-holiday themed so that if there are extras the officers can hand them out in the following days. The only exception to that is the homeless bags, which are going into Christmas-themed Ziploc gallon bags. The areas getting these bags have a lot of homeless people, so we feel confident they'll be given out on the holiday itself.
We are doing the bag stuffing on Sunday, December 15. Unfortunately the venue we're having it at isn't very big (we chose it because it's the precinct we're going to be distributing the bags from later in the week, so we won't have to move them). We had a lot of people offer to help out, including police officers who won't be working on Christmas, and that's wonderful, so we have enough volunteers. Next year we hope this event will be bigger and better. If it is, we'll move it to a different site so more people can be involved.
Everything on our Amazon Wish List has been purchased! THANK YOU to everyone who pitched in to get the items we needed. You are amazing! There are some things that we're getting offline like 100 travel size shaving creams, candy, and plastic forks. But, those will be covered by Target Columbus NW (Dublin, OH) and the Columbus Division of Police Professional Standards Bureau, who have been chipping in on a bunch of items, so we are OFFICIALLY ALL SET!!!
Finally, let's not lose sight of the fact that we have men and women across Columbus who have signed up to give out gift bags to strangers they meet on Christmas Day. If you'd like to send a card to one of these officers, we'll make sure it gets in their box of items. It will surely put a smile on their face and help brighten their holiday. Just mail it to us (they won't mind that we opened it) at Starfish Assignment, 2783 Martin Rd #313, Dublin, OH 43017.
