MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Police Department is focused on supporting local children this year with their revamped annual toy drive.

“We had been doing this for a while, through Toys for Tots,” said MLPD Public Records Technician Cristina Valdez. “But last year we decided to change it to Cops for Tots so that we could make sure the toys stayed within our own community.”

Officers and support staff stationed themselves outside both entrances of the Moses Lake Walmart on Saturday evening.

“We typically have a DJ on each side to bring more of a festive atmosphere,” Valdez said. “We have a group of officers that volunteered their time to come down, as well as our office staff, including myself and (Police Specialist) Olivia (Martinez). We’re greeting people as they come in, talking to them about what we’re doing … and how they could help. People can grab a toy from inside of Walmart and drop it off on their way out, or they can give a cash donation, and we would do the shopping for them.”

The event involved about 14 MLPD personnel overall, Valdez said. During the hours they were at Walmart, shoppers donated 17 shopping carts full of toys as well as five bicycles and $2,400 in cash, according to an MLPD post.

Toys for Tots was established by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve to collect toys for children whose families couldn’t afford Christmas presents, according to its website. There are chapters all over the world, but here in the Basin, we’re in something of a toy desert. The nearest Toys for Tots programs are in Spokane and Yakima, which means distribution is spotty in the territory between, if there’s anything left at all.

Martinez had been the MLPD’s liaison with Toys for Tots, she said.

“We decided we wanted to (keep the toys) in the city where we were raising them,” Martinez said. “That’s why we made it our own.”

The toys and donations will go to several other organizations to distribute to the children, Valdez said. Some will go to the Moses Lake Food Bank, some to Restore City Church and some to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin.

“(We) don’t see the toys going out,” Valdez said. “But the big thing we noticed is our community and the way they show up. There are people who come through the door that you least expect, and they’re the most giving when they come back out with a cart full of toys.”

    In just a few hours, the Moses Lake Police collected 17 shopping carts full of toys, as well as five bikes and $2,400 in cash.
  

    Some of the toys collected through the MLPD Cops for Tots program will be distributed through the Moses Lake Food Bank. Others will go to Restore City Church and the Boys & Girls Club for distribution.
  

    A young donor learns the joy of generosity with a donation to the Moses Lake Police Department’s Cops for Tots. Events like this give children a positive view of the police that can stay with them their whole lives, said Police Specialist Olivia Martinez.