LPolice Radio Podcast # 8 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Christmas Program with Officer Ryan Botzenmayer.

Since 1974, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the CMPD Police Explorers have partnered with the community to provide a Christmas for less fortunate families in Charlotte. When this project started, the Police Department helped 15 families by providing them with gifts for their children. Today, the project is much larger and provides gifts to hundreds of children across the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area.

The CMPD partners with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools guidance counselors and teachers in elementary schools to identify children and their families who are in need of assistance during the Christmas season. To qualify for the program, these children must be eligible to receive free or reduced lunch at school. In addition, CMPD Officers and CFD Firefighters will refer families with emergency situations.

Our goal is for each child to receive at least three gifts, and provide each family with a gift card to a local grocery store to purchase a Christmas Dinner. The gift card is a new concept that started in 2014, and is a positive change that will allow families from diverse cultural backgrounds to purchase food more suitable to their traditions and customs.