BY SUSAN BRYANT

sbryant@tnonline.com

Christmas 2022 was special for more than 35 Parkland students thanks to the efforts of Target store employees, Pennsylvania State Troopers, South Whitehall and Upper Macungie police officers, Lehigh County Sheriff’s deputies, Dorney Park employees, the Parkland Education Foundation and Cetronia Ambulance Corps personnel.

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the youngsters took part in the “Heroes for the Holidays” program with a shopping spree at Target and lunch at Chickie and Pete’s at Dorney Park.

The day began with students meeting with law enforcement officers at Target with shopping lists in hand to purchase items for family members.

After shopping, the youngsters and officers received help from volunteers and staff from the school district, police departments, and Parkland CARES Food Pantry wrapping their purchases.

During lunch Santa and Snoopy visited, before the students headed back to school.

South Whitehall Police Sgt. Jason Grozier discussed the event.

“The Heroes for the Holidays event fosters strong community relationships by pairing public safety officials with local youth to purchase gifts for themselves and their families during the holidays,” Grozier said.

Each student received a gift card for $250 to use at the Target in South Whitehall.

“This is our eighth-year shopping with students from the Parkland School District,” Grozier stated. “We choose to do ‘Heroes for the Holidays’ every year so we can help children shop for their families and create a positive experience for the student, their families and our community.”

South Whitehall police who participated included Grozier, Chief Glen Dorney, Lt. Stephen Brown and Lt. Eric Kleintop, Sgt. Eric Dotter, Sgt. Andrew Gardo, Sgt. George Hummel, Officers Kevin Azar, Darvin Faust, Amanda Krampf, Bethany Adams, Tyler Bachman, David Lawrence and Andrew Cikanovich

Police administrative staff Melissa Hudak, Lori Harvey-Borso, and Gina Whirl also took part.

Upper Macungie Township Police Lt. Pete Nickischer said this event is an excellent opportunity for local police officers to interact with children in the community.

“Sometimes, this includes children who have experienced some form of hardship,” he stated. “It also takes place in a relaxed and comfortable environment (Target and Dorney Park), which can help calm a child who may not feel comfortable around a police officer whom they have never met before.

“I judged the event’s success by the smiles I see on the faces of both the children and the officers. I am happy to report that I saw a sea of smiles that day, which brought me great joy.

“I cannot express how happy we were to be back in the store and shopping with our school-aged friends.

“Something about being out with a child and helping them pick gifts for their family members really helps the two of you build a bond. That is a special and unique opportunity that our police officers are given, and we are very grateful for the opportunity. We wish to thank everyone who helped ensure this event’s success.”

Upper Macungie officers who participated included Nickischer, Officers Ahmed Elkadousy, Robert Djevharian, Ryan Mertus, Anna Kahn and Tim Peters, School Resource Officer William Rohrbach and Detective Adam Miller.

Lehigh County Sheriff Joseph Hanna and State Police Trooper Nathan Branosky with Troop M, Bethlehem, also commented

Hanna said this event has been a success in the past and his deputies wanted to continue supporting such a worthwhile cause this year and beyond.

“We thought the event went very well again this year with much participation from law enforcement and the community,” he stated. “It is important we recognize the importance of giving back to our communities, not only during the holiday seasons, but all year long. “

Sheriff’s Deputies Capt. Dean Schwartz, Lt. Melissa Vaka, Deps. Shane LaFord and Matt Liebman represented Hanna’s office.

“Our profession has us answer calls for service for a variety of situations where we have to comfort victims, arrests suspects, and place ourselves in dangerous situations,” Branosky said. “‘Heroes for the Holidays’ allows us to interact with the youth and make them comfortable around Troopers and see us as protectors of the community and someone they can be comfortable speaking to and interacting with while having an enjoyable day of shopping and talking.

“The students asked Troopers great questions about our jobs and what the State Police Academy is like and some of the different situations we encounter during our shift. The Troopers and students both enjoyed each other’s company and had a great day.”

Troopers who participated included Cpl. Chris Yaworski, Fogelsville, Cpl. Sue Creelman, and Cpl. Pete Del Gaizo, and Troopers Ryan Seiple and John Snyder, all from the Bethlehem barracks, and Trooper Anthony Gentile from the Belfast barracks.

Diane Joy Irish, social worker with Parkland School District, said students who participated in the program were chosen by the district’s guidance counselors.

“The students could be nominated for any number of reasons: financial need, family hardships not financial in nature or to acknowledge a student that has worked hard to make significant progress or improvement in overcoming some type of difficulty,” Irish stated.

“As always, our local officers and community partners worked hard to make this event a great experience for the students involved. Everyone who participated had a wonderful time.”

Parkland Education Foundation Executive Director Lisa Ervin said the Parkland Education Foundation donated $2,600 to the “Heroes for the Holiday” program through its Celebrate Innovation Grant program.

“Diane Irish, the school district’s social worker, writes for the grant each year, to help support the program. And, when David Kennedy was on our School Board, he attended and loved the event so much that he has become an annual donor, supporting this particular event,” Ervin stated. “Also, the police departments work with community partners to secure various donations for lunch, wrapping supplies and other surprises for the children. It has become a true communitywide effort and a favorite tradition over the years.”

Education foundation members who participated included Ervin, executive director, Tori Morgan, president, and Liz Zemyan, event coordinator.

Parkland School District Superintendent Mark Madson, Assistant Superintendent Tim Chorones along with Nicole McGalla, director of Community Relations and Development, Carol Facchiano, school board president, and David Hein, school board member, also took part.

Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom Public Relations and Communications Manager Ryan Eldredge commented about participating this year.

“We are always looking for ways to support the children in our community and the volunteers who help them.

“This provided that kind of opportunity,” Eldredge stated. “The event was fantastic despite the rain.

“We were incredibly impressed with the professionalism of all participating departments and volunteer organizations. We applaud the charitable effort.

Dorney Park volunteers included entertainment, food and beverage, marketing, executive, public relations/communications, operations, security and Snoopy.

“Parkland CARES has been a participant of the ‘Heroes for the Holidays’ program for the past four years,” Katrina Sundstrom, executive director with Parkland CARES Food Pantry, said. “It is an honor to serve beside the leaders of our community.

“Participating in the event gives us an opportunity to give back directly to the children in Parkland.

She said besides wrapping gifts the Parkland CARES Board of Directors and Leadership team donated funds to provide each child with a gift bag full of items.

Food pantry staff who participated included: Sundstrom, Lauren Gallagher, director of Pantry Operations, Karen McMichael and Camille Chase, volunteers, David Hein, and Tori Morgan, both board members.