BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — With the holidays quickly approaching, Police schedule planning is in full swing at the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

Here’s sheriff’s Lt. Bryan Husband’s report on Monday:

This year we will be in local Walmart stores starting December 3, 4, and 5.

Shop with a Cop is a joint venture between local law enforcement agencies and local Walmart stores in Central Oregon. Our primary focus is to help make the holidays a little brighter for less fortunate families and provide children with the opportunity to have positive police interactions.

Shop with a Cop is funded entirely by donations from our community. Many businesses, organizations and individual citizens donate money to the program. No taxes are spent on this program. In addition to shopping for students, Shop with a Cop also provides Christmas meals for participating families. We apply 100% of community donations to this local program.

Participating students are referred by a Deschutes County school’s Family Access Network (FAN) advocate. Additional students are referred through the Central Oregon Partnership for Youth (COPY) program, which provides positive guidance to children of incarcerated parents.

Shop with a Cop is supervised and coordinated by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office; however, its continued success is due to the participation of deputies from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, officers and deputies from agencies in Central Oregon, Bend City Police Department and Redmond Police. The department includes law enforcement agencies of the Sunriver Police Department, Deschutes County Probation and Parole, Oregon State Police, and the U.S. Forest Service.

Shop with a Cop has been a huge success in recent years thanks to the incredible generosity of local citizens and businesses in the form of monetary support. Volunteer support for the program has also always been a critical part of its success.

For questions regarding possible donations, please contact Lieutenant Bryan Husband at our main office. 541-388-6655. [email protected]