Christmas came early for the roughly 150 children treated to a shopping spree at the Sebastian Walmart last Wednesday afternoon at another heartwarming Shop with a Cop event.

A police escort led school buses in two shifts from north and south counties – each carrying children identified by School Resource Officers, teachers and administrators as needing a helping hand this holiday season.

This was the sixth year ‘head elf’ Roberta Barker, who retired from the IRCSO and is now a School Resource Officer for SPD, co-chaired the event, aided this year by IRCSO Dep. Jessica Ogonoski. Funding was provided by Walmart grants, fundraisers such as Christmas in July, and donations from individuals and groups such as the Lions Club and Sebastian Exchange Club.

Armed with a $100 gift certificate, wide-eyed youngsters ages 6 to 14 were paired with law-enforcement sidekicks from the Sebastian, Vero Beach, Fellsmere and Indian River Shores police departments, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, and Florida Fish and Wildlife to help guide their sleighs, or in this case, shopping carts.

There were big smiles all around as the kids and their law-enforcement pals were greeted by Santa before passing through a cheering gauntlet of Walmart employees and perusing the aisles in search of gifts for family members, themselves and even their pets.

“I look forward to this every year,” said VBPD Lt. Matt Monaco, before listening intently to his two young charges.

“Hey, you work at our school!” squealed a little girl from Dodgertown Elementary School as she ran over to give a big hug to a grinning Dep. Jared Brown, an IRCSO School Resource Officer.

Fellsmere Police Chief Keith Touchberry was busy taking pictures with his cell phone, noting, “I’m taking pictures of all my guys,” adding with a grin, “They’re my kids.”

Afterward, having worked up an appetite, children and their new buddies were treated to hotdogs and chips supplied by Walmart and cooked up in the Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Canteen.