C.O.P.S. FOR CHRISTMAS program brings help from deputies for disadvantaged families, especially kids

Receiving a Thangsgiving meal Nov. 21 were George Weathers and his mother Colleen Alatalo, second and third from left, and bringing it from the Sheriff’s Office are from left in front, Cpl. Jeff Babin and Seth Penton, son of Lt. Jamie Penton; Back row, Lt. Justin Meyers, Capt. Adrian Chalona, Jodi Mowers of the Sheriff’s Office; Maj. Kevin Sensebe; Jerry Weiser, son of Chalona; Capt. Angela Peraza; Col. David Mpoers, Lt. Jamie Penton and her daughter, Kaya Penton.

Delivering a meal to theTompkins family were, from left in front, Kaya Penton and Jayden Penton, daughters of Lt. Jamie Penton; Capt. Angela Peraza, recipients from the Tompkins family Brianna Tompkins, Jasmine Tompkins and Jared Tompkins, their mother Jennifer Tompkins; Seth Penton and his mother, Lt. Jamie Penton; Back row, Jodi Mowers of the Sheriff’s Office, Col. David Mowers, Lt. Justin Meyers, Maj. Kevin Sensebe, recipent Archie Tompkins, Cpl. Jeff Babin, Capt. Adrian Chalona and his son, Jerry Weiser.

In a thoughtful idea, a group of St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputies decided in 2011 to give up their annual Christmas exchange of gifts to one another in favor of adopting two needy families for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

A new tradition was born and now the second year of the program called Caring Officers Provide Smiles for Christmas or, C.O.P.S. FOR CHRISTMAS, has begun, with officers helping two different families in 2012.

Sheriff’s deputies from the Corrections Division and Communications Division donated money, got referrals to two families from the agency FINS, standing for Families in Need of Services, then set out to help them for the holidays.

Two families living in Chalmette were asked if they would participate and they agreed.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, sheriff’s deputies and some of their family members delivered turkey dinners provided by Stonewall restaurant in Chalmette to each family.

Their children – two girls and a boy in one family and a boy and girl in another – were asked for a list of their top items they would like for Christmas, which they will receive, as well as a tree to decorate and a meal for that holiday.

“It’s something that went well last year, giving us a feeling of doing something to help others,’’ said Col. David Mowers, head ot the Corrections Division which began the program a year ago. “We wanted to do it again.’’

Mowers added that the two families involved represent “a classic case of people who work for a living but still have money concerns that would keep them from giving their children the kind of Thanksgiving and Christmas they want for them.’’

Other divisions within the Sheriff’s Office also have programs to deliver gifts to the disadvantaged for the holidays.

Both the families being helped by the Corrections and Communications divisions say they appreciate it.

Colleen Alatalo, a single mother with a son and daughter who are teen-agers, said, “This means the world to me to have a regular Thanksgiving meal.’’

She added, “It’s good that people think so much of others to help.’’

Alatalo said she walks to the St. Claude Avenue bus line in Arabi from their Chalmette apartment to get to a job she has in the French Quarter. “There’s only so much left after groceries and rent.’’

The other family, Archie and Jennifer Tompkins, have one young teen-age daughter and a pre-teen daughter and son.

The holiday help they receive “is really going to mean a lot to us,’’ Jennifer Tomkins said. There wouldn’t have been a real Thanksgiving meal otherwise, she said.

Looking at his children helping put away the meal they received, Archie Tompkins said, “They are already enjoying it.’’