Police are authority figures. Sometimes though, they want to be seen differently.

For at least one night a year, it’s almost impossible not to see a different shade of blue.

In what is becoming an annual tradition, local law enforcement and first responders raise funds in order to take kids from their neighborhoods and precincts shopping for Christmas presents – toys, clothes, whatever the children want – as Blue Santa.

“It’s the kids’ day,” Mineola ISD police chief Cody Castleberry put it to the assembled crowd of over 100 folks staged in the Mineola Walmart stock room last Tuesday. Cookies and hot cocoa were being served before four dozen children, each paired with a cop or firefighter from their own town, along with their parents and guardians, went on a $300 shopping spree – tax free, thanks to They Got Your 6 Foundation.

For Castleberry, the most important part is that kids learn police officers are here to help with anything they need.

State trooper Clay Hefner of Winnsboro thinks it correlates well with their usual duties.

“We’re always trying to find someone to help,” stated Hefner.

While the public normally sees a very restrictive side of their job, seen as the authoritarian figure, Hefner believes it’s supposed to be about service, helping people and, “being part of something that was actually good instead of being the bad part of someone’s day.”

Hefner liked, “not being viewed as the big bad policeman.”

Children may have had interactions with cops in less than ideal situations, whether at home or in a traffic stop and, “We don’t want them to associate us with the bad times, we want them to see that we’re here to support them through anything, whatever they need,” says Castleberry.

Buying the kids presents is but a tool to reach them. “Only a good person would do that, right?”

In this environment, the kids get to see the cops with their guard down, retrieving bikes from high racks to find just the right one, doing their best to keep a running total with their smartphones and sometimes trying to convince the young shoppers that yes, they can absolutely get whatever they want.

As they started shopping, Hefner noticed some hesitancy to get anything big and finally, “I was like, ‘Hey kid, buy what you want.’…and she really warmed up to it.”

Hefner’s first shop-with-a-cop is unlikely his last, having possibly gotten more out of it than even the kids.

Castleberry points out that it is certainly about the kids, adding, “We enjoy it too. We look forward to this every year.”

Plans for next year have already begun, with ideas about what to do different and how to make it even better.

Nearly $16,000 was raised in just under a month this time, which Castleberry notes, “If that doesn’t tell you what kind of community we have – that’s crazy,” on how generous the community is.

Knowing they have that kind of support makes them want to make it bigger and better each time.

As Castleberry shared, “It’s definitely our favorite thing to do every year.”