For more than 200 Clark County kids and dozens of volunteers, Sunday morning was a busy time at Walmart in Winchester.

Members of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 34 and other community volunteers took 201 kids shopping for clothes and toys in the annual Shop with a Cop event.

“It went well,” lodge president Lee Murray said. “Each kid got to spend $125.”

The lodge has hosted the event for 25 years on the last Sunday before Christmas at a local store. Murray said fund-raising efforts began a couple months ago, and the lodge raised a little more than $25,000 for this year’s shopping spree.

Efforts of those behind the scenes really make the event happen, he said, starting with the phone solicitation program.

“(Daryl Glover) has done that for 20 years and he has some people who help him,” Murray said. “My vice president Keith Mullikin gets all the kids’ names from

the school Family Resource Centers and puts it all together.”

Early Sunday morning, the invited kids and their families lined up inside Walmart with the thoughts of $125 burning a hole in their pockets.

It’s not all about the toys, though.

“We first get them to buy some clothes and then whatever’s left for a toy or two,” he said.

Each family goes through the store with at least one volunteer from the Winchester Police Department, Clark County Sheriff’s Office or retired law enforcement. A number of community groups, including the JROTC, bass club and cheerleaders from George Rogers Clark High School, participate along with some unaffiliated volunteers from the community.

Kentucky FOP President and Clark County Sheriff Berl Perdue Jr. said about half of the state’s 69 FOP lodges have a Shop with a Cop event.

“It’s the best program we do,” Perdue said. “It touches more families and kids than anything we do, including the sports programs we support.”

Contact Fred at fred.petke@winchestersun.com.