Cloverdale police starting Christmas planning early

CLOVERDALE -- While most people have not really started thinking about Christmas, Cloverdale Town Marshal Mike Clark is already seeking community support for families in need.

An impromptu Christmas dinner last year has inspired Clark to get a several-month head start on this year's celebration. Last year he was contacted by a family who had fallen on hard times. Unfortunate events meant the parents would not be able to provide Christmas gifts to their children.

"Last year we put this together in three weeks time. It started with one family calling me. They were in need of help and they weren't going to be able to do anything for their kids for Christmas," Clark said.

"So we decided to try and help two or three families. It just kept ballooning up ... As we started finding families that needed help, they would mention other families that needed help."

Clark then contacted area agencies which work with children, as well as the local school, to help as many families as possible.

Next, he contacted each of the families on the growing list personally to invite them to the dinner and to receive gifts for the children.

"We invited 100 people and 160 showed up. At the last minute we scrambled to get gifts for the extra people and we managed to pull it off. Since we had 160 show up last year, I'm expecting at least 200 this year," Clark said.

The American Legion donated space for the event last year, but with the anticipated increase in attendance this year C Bar C has agreed to donate venue space to accommodate the event the evening of Dec. 19.

The early start to organize the event is two-fold, Clark noted. First, he needs help from the community to ensure there are enough gifts for all the children.

Soul Harvest Church donated all the food last year and has agreed to try to get most of the food again this year. There were a couple of businesses which donated last year at the last minute, which he expects to see again this year. For example, Haywood Auto bought gifts for the teenagers last year.

He has received a grant from the Spencer Walmart and the Dollar General in Greencastle has started sending toys. Dollar General in Cloverdale is planning to host a toy drive closer to the event as well, all of which is helpful to provide gifts to the young children.

"The issue is the older kids. A lot of these families have 7 or 8-year-olds, but they also have 15 and 16-year-olds," Clark stressed.

To ensure all ages receive gifts, he is requesting monetary donations to help as families contact him to express need.

Donations can be sent to Cloverdale Police, P.O. Box 254, Cloverdale, Ind. 46120. He stressed the memo on checks should note it is for the Christmas event because the department also receives donations for the K9 department.

Clark said when he first started working for the Town of Cloverdale, he was told it was hard to get the community to support many projects. But, in the two years since taking the position the community has continued to support him and the department's mission to serve the community.

Clark said he would also like families to start contacting him if they will be in need of assistance this Christmas. In an effort to ensure all children receive gifts, families are encouraged to call his office at 795-3800 Ext. 1.

As the event nears, volunteers will also be sought to help with the event, but he once again will have officers from the Cloverdale Police Department serve food so they can interact face-to-face with families in the community.

"I use my officers to help serve. At first some of my younger officers just looked at me when I said they would be serving. But, by the end they loved it," Clark said.

One of the department's reserves will once again be dressed as Santa Claus.

Clark stressed the importance of himself and the officers working closely with the community. This allows people to see them in a different light and understand the department is dedicated to helping the citizens.

The Christmas dinner is just one of several projects in which the town marshal and his officers are involved. Last year for Halloween, the department handed out about 600 bags of candy to local youth as they went trick-or-treating. The department also donates some school supplies to area families in need.