"Shop With A Hero"

Yesterday Joe and I headed out to Banning to participate in "Shop With A Hero". It was put on by B.P.A.L. (Banning Police Activities League). Our good friend is the Chief of Police for Banning and every year they select about 20 kids from the program to take shopping for Christmas. Each child is paired with a "hero" and given one hundred one dollar bills to buy whatever they want at Wal-Mart. It was AMAZING!!!

We all met at the Police Station at 8:30 in the morning in Banning and then the kids jumped into a couple of limos and we headed off for some breakfast. When we got there, we were paired with our child. I was with Juan, who is 8. Juan also had his 5 year-old sister, Elizabeth, there too. She is sooo cute!! Her nickname is Boo because she looks like Boo from Monster's Inc!! I swear she looked like she could be my kid!!!! Joe was with Leng, who is 11. Leng always has a huge smile on his face :) We hung out with the kids for a while and then got some breakfast. We even got to meet Zorro, the police dog! After breakfast, the kids all lined up to meet Santa and get their $100. After everyone sat with Santa, we headed back out the limos to head to Wal-Mart.


















Juan and Boo :)

























Now this is when the coolest part started!!! We had a full police escort to Wal-Mart...SIRENS and all!!! It was incredible!! There were about 4 limos, probably 15 cars and about 15 police cars and motorcycles!! We first went through a neighborhood where all the neighbors came outside to wave to the kids. Then we headed out to the streets. Somehow Joe and I got separated from the Banning group. They headed off to the Morongo Reservation, but we had no clue. We just kept following the police escort. We ended up following the Beaumont group to Wal-Mart, but were glad we did!! It's not too often that you get to go through stop signs, red lights, people pull over for you, drive on the wrong side of the road or not have to pull over when there's a police car tailing you with it's siren blaring!!! I told Joe I felt like we were in a huge car chase! I'm sure the people on the roads were wondering what in the heck was going on. It was about a 20 minute drive of pure EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!!









When we pulled into Wal-Mart, the fire department and their trucks were already there to greet us!! There were people and Wal-Mart employees standing outside waving and taking pictures of us! We felt like celebrities and I'm sure the kids were in heaven in their limo!! Once the Banning group arrived, they had the same reception!! I was kind of glad we were already there because I got to film and take pictures of them driving in.







As soon as we got the ok, Juan and I were the first one's into Wal-Mart and we sprinted to the toy section!! He was on a mission for a remote control helicopter, but after seeing all his options, he changed his mind. He ended up picking out a Spiderman DS game, a Luigi cover for his DS, a Halo lego set, Transformers and a pair of shoes. As we were trying on some shoes, a reporter came by and asked us some questions and took some pictures. We ended up having a picture in her article in the paper!!! Juan's older brother found us and it was fun seeing him help his brother pick out some fun toys!!!





We headed to the cashier to buy Juan's gifts. We found his sister, Boo, and she ended up buying clothes for herself! She even had some money left over and she showed me with a HUGE smile on her face!!! Juan's mom came to bring him home and it was so nice to meet her and give her a hug. She "thanked" me for being Juan's hero, but it was her I "thanked" for letting me spend the day with Juan! I was soo sad when they said they had to leave, I didn't want it to be over. Weren't we supposed to play with the toys now!!???? I stuck Juan and Boo in my shopping cart and tried to sneak out with them!!!







We had the best day!!! I know Joe had a blast too!! What more can a 38 year-old kid ask for then take another kid shopping??!! I think Joe was having the most fun picking out all the toys!!!!! It's always amazing how something like this can make you feel and make you realize how fortunate you are!! We can't wait to do it again next year and the years to come!!

Thanks Leonard (Chief), Liz and Logan for inviting us to this amazing event :)
Click this link to see the Article about the event. (There's a picture of me helping Juan try on his shoes and one of Joe standing behind Leng. You can see the back of Leng's shirt and you can see Joe's name tag behind him!)