History of Christmas, Cops and Kids
On Christmas Eve 26 years ago when Officer Tim Heiden was a rookie police officer with the Barstow Police Department an older couple in Barstow gave him some toys and asked if he could find some children to give them to. He put them in the trunk of his squad car and on that Christmas Eve night his wife and daughter followed him around town when he was not on calls and they would find kids for the toys. It is from this humble beginning that the toy delivery has grown into what it is today—Christmas, Cops and Kids. On December 21, 2021, Tim went home to his heavenly father, but the program is continuing.
The goal of Christmas Cops and Kids is to get a toy into the hands of every child in the Barstow area by delivering the toys directly to the children. We do this with teams of volunteers. On Christmas Eve morning, over 500 volunteers on eight different teams meet at 6:00 a.m. to begin loading trucks, vans, and cars to begin their routes throughout the city. The neighborhoods come alive with the sound of sirens blaring, horns honking and excited children shouting and running to the caravans of toys. When we first started delivering, the children were hesitant to approach the police vehicles, but now they are waiting on the curb, excited, and jumping up and down in anticipation of our arrival and the receipt of a toy.
On one delivery a little girl came out in a wheelchair. She was very shy. When asked what toy she would like, her mother said she could not afford a gift that year because her medical bills were so high, but her mother asked if she could have a small figurine from the movie Hunchback of Notre Dame. Instead, she was given the entire box of all the characters from the movie. The next year when we went back to that area, we looked for the little girl, but she had died. Her mother said that was her last Christmas, but it was her best Christmas. There are so many stories to tell.
Christmas, Cops and Kids operates totally with volunteers and is supported financially solely by donations from the public and through fund raising events. There are no overhead expenses or administrative costs. Every dollar goes directly into obtaining toys.
