Groups come together for 'Clovers, Cops and Christmas'

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Police Department and Cloverdale Community School Corporation FFA are coming together for the inaugural "Clovers, Cops and Christmas" event the evening of Dec. 19.

The C Bar C arena has donated space to host the dinner and gifts to be given out. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with Santa and his elves arriving at 6 p.m.

Both groups hosted its own community-oriented Christmas program in the past to help less-fortunate families in and around Cloverdale, but this year the two entities hope by coming together they can help more people than ever.

Last year, the Cloverdale Police Department aimed to help a local family that had fallen on hard times. As Chief Mike Clark started researching what he could do to help, he continued to find more people in the community in need of help during the holiday season.

Clark reached out to the community to gather presents and food in three short weeks to help the people in the town he serves. What started out as a mission to help a single Cloverdale family turned into a 100-person invitation-only dinner. The chief enlisted the help of his officers to serve dinner and were astounded when they ended up serving 160 people.

This year, Clark vowed to get a head start on the project this year to ensure the community he patrols has a happy Christmas. After an article seeking donations was published in the Banner Graphic, Cloverdale FFA Adviser Callie Edie and her students had a plan to expand their own Christmas program.

Cloverdale FFA president Michelle Huge, a senior, and treasurer Taylor Goss, a sophomore, said the FFA has hosted a toy drive for 10 years. Last year, they gave out presents to a record number of 500 area youth.

The students thought the best way to successfully assist the community is to combine the strengths of the police department and FFA. Clark has done quite a bit of fundraising already and the FFA has the manpower to assist families throughout the event.

Huge said initially she was nervous to drop off a proposal to the town's head police officer and was even more surprised when he was at the department with some time to chat face-to-face about the proposal. Huge admitted she was nervous initially due to her lack of police interaction. But, by the end of the conversation she was even more excited due to the chief's enthusiasm.

"He is such a wonderful guy. He works with us so well and communicates with us. We will be working with him and the other police officers in town. I didn't think I would get to do this during the toy drive," Huge said.

The students said they look forward to FFA toy drive each year, and are even more excited for this year's collaborative event expected to double in size.

"We get to help give these kids Christmas. We get to know the families and we get to know their stories. To see them walk out with a smile on their face is so heartwarming," Goss stressed. "It takes a lot for them to tell us they need help."

While the Cloverdale FFA will get some help from North Putnam and South Putnam organizations, the event is going to need help from the community to make sure families in the area have a happy holiday season.

The group will be providing Christmas presents to area youth from the toddler age to seniors in high school. New and gently used toys are encouraged, as well as donations for the older children. Monetary donations are also encouraged to help fill in the gaps.

"High school boys and girls are the hardest to shop for. We usually end up buying cologne, perfume, hair products, sweaters, (hair) straighteners and curling irons," Huge noted.

Edie said they have began planning a friendly competition among the classrooms at Cloverdale High School to get paper goods for the dinner. She said the students and staff have a competitive nature, especially when it will benefit other people.

The students noted concern about the date change because FFA toy drive was on the same date for 10 years. Huge said she is hopeful the community will help spread the word about the change of date and venue of the toy drive.

Clark said he is looking forward to working with the Cloverdale FFA. He said it helps to foster relationships with the community to show the officers care.

"It's always great to work with the youth," Clark said.

"We (officers) aren't just here to arrest people and write tickets. We are all about giving back to the community."

Donations can be made by contacting Cloverdale High School at 795-4203 or the Cloverdale Police Department at 795-3800 Ext. 1.