Shop with a Cop Raises Another $35,000, and Sheriff Launches Reunification Program for Inmates and Their Children

Flagler County Sheriff’s Office employees and several community organizations and individuals have generously donated over $35,000 to the Flagler Sheriff’s Childrens Charities in support of the Agency’s annual Shop with a Cop event, matching last year’s record amount.

The Flagler Sheriff’s Childrens Charities is a tax-deductible 501(c)(3) charity, established in 2020 by Sheriff Rick Staly. Sheriff’s employees donate to the charity each pay period through voluntary payroll deductions. In 2024, employees donated $24,200.




In addition, the charity received donations from individuals, businesses, and organizations throughout the community, including the A Morea Group; AMVETS Post 113, AMVETS Lady’s Auxiliary 113, and Sons of AMVETS 113; the Bunnell Police Department; Christ Lutheran Church; the Douglas family; Environmental Land Services; the Flagler County Tax Collector’s Office; Hammock Hardware; JMB Quality Construction; Knights of the Inferno Firefighters Motorcycle Club; Mark Dyberg with Seniors vs. Crimes; Pioneer Guns & Ammo; Punishers Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club; and the Quantum family of businesses.

The donations support the Sheriff’s Office’s annual Shop with a Cop event, which this year takes place Friday (Dec. 13) at Walmart.

The goal of Shop with a Cop is to help children and families who are struggling and would not have a happy holiday otherwise. Children are selected to participate in the event by nominations from sheriff’s employees and Flagler Schools staff. Selected participants include those experiencing economic hardships, victims of domestic violence, or children who have been placed in foster care.

During the event, deputies and police officers from Flagler County and state law enforcement agencies will pick up children from their homes and bring them to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Operations Center in Bunnell to play games and participate in other holiday activities.

The children will then be escorted to Walmart Supercenter in Palm Coast in a police motorcade with lights flashing and sirens blaring, to participate in a shopping trip. This year, thanks to the gracious donations of sheriff’s employees and community organizations, each participating child will receive a $225 gift card, which will give them the opportunity to shop for themselves and their family members. After shopping, the event will end with a cookout featuring hot dogs, hamburgers, and holiday treats for the children.




“Shop with a Cop is an event that we look forward to every year, and it would not be possible without the gracious support of our employees and these great people and organizations in our community,” Sheriff Staly said. “I sincerely thank everyone who donated to support our mission to help children in need this holiday season. Their donations will help make this year’s Shop with a Cop our biggest event yet with 125 children shopping!”

On Dec. 9, Staly launched a new program in partnership with Parkview Church, “Joy Beyond Walls: A Christmas Connection with FCSO and Parkview Church,” which reunited inmates at the Flagler County jail with their children during the holiday season. Inmates who are part of the jail’s Successful Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Treatment program known as SMART, and who had children younger than 15, were invited to participate in the event.

Under the watchful eyes of detention deputies, the inmates and their children were temporarily reunited to eat lunch, enjoy cookies and hot chocolate, and craft an ornament to memorialize what will hopefully be their last Christmas apart. Parkview Church members provided wrapped gifts to the children, which they opened alongside their fathers.




“Improving inmate outcomes, improves our community,” Staly said. “Inmates are being held accountable, but their children shouldn’t be punished for mistakes of their father. Holidays can be a hard time for our inmates but even harder for their children. Studies show that children of people in jail often become offenders when they grow up, and we wanted to stop the cycle and let children of inmates know their father loves them. Inmates in our SMART program work hard and are committed to turning their lives around, so we wanted a way to reward them and break the generational cycle through our ‘Joy Beyond Walls’ program. A very special thank you to Parkview Church for helping us put this program together and providing gifts to the children. We look forward to making ‘Joy Beyond Walls’ a yearly tradition.”

Read about the Smart program here. For tax-deductible donations to support the Flagler Sheriff’s Childrens Charities, go here. Below is a video from last year’s Shop with a Cop evening.