During the first week of December, the Leesburg Police Department, in partnership with the Leesburg Parks & Recreation Department’s R.O.C.K. Program, will be pairing needy youth with uniformed police officers.

Each child who participates will be paired up with a uniformed police officer and given $200 to spend on Christmas gifts.

“Holiday With The Cops” will start with dinner for the children and their “shopping buddies” at the Leesburg Police Department. After dinner, the police officers will escort the children to Target, where they will be able to shop. Once the children have finished their shopping, volunteers from Leesburg Police Explorer Post 1041 and the Leesburg Police Citizen Support Team as well as Leesburg Police Department dispatchers and staff will help the children wrap their gifts. Members from the Leesburg National Guard Armory will help take all the gifts home for the kids.

Donations to the Holidays With The Cops program are tax-deductible and can be made by cash, check or Pay Pal. Checks should be made out to the “Leesburg Police Citizen Support Team” and can be dropped off or mailed to the Leesburg Police Department at 65 Plaza St. NE in Leesburg.

Business sponsors for the 2012 Holidays With The Cops program include Best Buy, Target, La Villa Roma and Palio Ristorante Italiano. Businesses interested in supporting Holidays With The Cops with in-kind or monetary donations should contact Master Police Officer C.F. Tidmore at 703-771-4564 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).