Coeur d'Alene officers show a different side while distributing gifts
<p>Coeur d'Alene Police Traffic Officer Josh Sterling receives a hug from 5-year-old Ryker Perry as Ryker's mother, Sugey De Perry watches after Sterling gave them a $50 Visa gift card on Friday at the Coeur d'Alene Shopko. </p>
<p>Laura Lee Wright, a grandmother of 16, is emotional after she receives a $50 Visa gift card from the Coeur d'Alene Police Association to help with her Christmas shopping on Friday in the Coeur d'Alene Kmart. "It's just amazing," Wright says. "The difference this will make will be huge."</p>
<p>With her children Kaitryn, left, and Logan in the cart, Misty Dawson is surprised by Coeur d'Alene Police Detective Nic Lowry with a $50 Visa gift card from the Coeur d'Alene Police Association on Friday in the Coeur d'Alene Shopko. </p>
COEUR d’ALENE — Misty Dawson began to tense up Friday as two Coeur d’Alene police officers approached her in the Shopko department store.
The Post Falls woman was surprised when they asked her how her Christmas shopping was going and then turned to her two children and asked them what they wanted for Christmas.
Dawson fought back tears when one of the officers handed her a $50 gift card and asked her if it would help her buy 4-year-old Kaitryn the "Frozen" toys the little girl was pining for, and a train for 2-year-old Logan.
“Thank you so much,” Dawson said, and insisted on hugging the officers.
Det. Nic Lowry and Traffic Officer Josh Sterling continued handing out gift cards to random shoppers Friday in Coeur d’Alene.
This is the second year the Coeur d’Alene Police Association has given back to the community in this way. This year it had $2,000 in Visa gift cards to give away.
For people like Laura Lee Wright from Athol, who was in Coeur d’Alene shopping at Kmart with her granddaughter, Alexis, the gift from the officers was “absolutely amazing.” She said she purchases gifts for eight children and 16 grandchildren.
“I basically had $50 left to be able to get stocking stuffers and be able to get a little bit of something for everybody, so the difference that this will make is huge,” Wright said.
Each patrol officer was given at least one card to hand out, Lowry said. He recalled a moment last year, when one patrol officer stopped a woman in the parking lot of Fred Meyer, as if he was going to give her a traffic ticket, but gave her the gift card instead. The officers said it is moments like that the officers enjoy most this time of year.
“It’s the holiday spirit, something for us to be able to get out there and interact with the public,” Lowry said.
While Lowry said they like to help families when they can, they were not handing out the cards to anyone in particular, just anyone who seemed like they could use it.
One gift card was given to three women who were shopping in the apparel section at Shopko. Nita Robson, Brenda Kettle and Aggie Draban were picking up items to use at a dinner they were preparing for the homeless. They were purchasing hats, socks and gloves to hand out at the dinner.
Rachel Rivera of Rathdrum said it was a strange coincidence the officers gave her a gift card because she and her cousin were baking cookies for vets. She needed more supplies because they were going to deliver cookies the following day to police departments in Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Rathdrum.
Most of the time, Lowry said, the public only sees law enforcement when they are responding to calls like traffic accidents and other major incidents.
“This gives us the opportunity to meet and greet people in the public, with smiling faces, and they get to see a different side of us,” Lowry said.