Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

With the holiday season in full swing, the Manchester Police Department is gearing up for the annual Angel Tree distribution where a number of Manchester children will receive the Christmas they might not have had otherwise.

Interim Chief Adam Floied noted that the Angel Tree is a long-standing tradition in the MPD.

“I’ve been here close to 30 years, and we’ve done it the whole time I’ve been here in different shapes and sizes,” he said.

The Police Department coordinates with Bj Sylvia, the Family Resource Coordinator for Manchester City Schools, to get a list of the neediest students, which usually equals from 80-90, in the school system that includes their sizes, interests and gender. No names are shared.

“She deserves a huge recognition because she knows who the most needy are and is able to get us that information and she navigates a lot of stuff within the school system that makes this possible,” emphasized Floied.

Each of the four shifts in the department as well the investigative and administrative staff are given a portion of the list to shop for. They then put together bags of clothes, shoes, jackets and personal hygiene items.

A toy is also chosen to go in the bags that matches each child’s specific interests.

Food boxes are also put together to hand out to each family that has either a child or multiple children on the Angel Tree list. The department usually puts together around 50 boxes each year.

Then, on Dec. 19, the families come to the Police Department where, weather permitting, the bags and food boxes will be lined up with numbers that coordinate with each child.

“They don’t even have to get out of the car,” said Floied. “They just pull up and we’ll load it in the car for them.”

After all of the recipients receive their toys and other items, all of the leftover toys will be placed under either the tree in the lobby in City Hall or the tree on the Manchester Square for children to come get with a maximum of two to make sure they get to as many as possible.

The MPD collects the toys all year long, and Floied says they will continue to up until Christmas

“If somebody brings us something, we’ll find a way to get it out or out under a tree,” he explained. “If it’s a holiday and city hall is closed, we’ll put it under the tree on the square. We don’t want to have a single toy leftover after Christmas, but if we do, we’ll carry it over to next Christmas.”

A majority of the funding for the Angel Tree program comes from advertisements on a calendar that the Police Department puts out every year, and 100% of the proceeds from the calendars goes to that program and Thanksgiving boxes that the MPD distributes every year to the Manchester Housing Authority.

The MPD also receives donations from organizations like the Sportsmen and Businessmen’s Charitable Organization.

Manchester Sonic had patrolman car hop for a couple of hours recently and donated all tips received and a portion of their sales which equaled $1600 to the program.

Other businesses like Duck River Electric and Sleep Inn and Suites have collection boxes for toys. Cash Express also had a Fill-A-Car event where people were invited to fill an old police car with toys.

Floied, while acknowledging that the program is a “huge undertaking,” also explained that it’s great getting to help some of the most vulnerable members of the community, and that a lot of the individuals who donate prefer to remain anonymous.

“To be able to do something that’s not about having your name attached to it or anything is great,” he said. “A lot of the donations that we do get are anonymous. They don’t want their name attached. They just wanna do something good for kids and even the families.”

“They just want to do it for the right reasons, and it’s a cool thing to be a part of for sure,” he added. “It’s just great being able to help kids that need it. It’s fun to be a police officer when you get to put some smiles on some people’s faces, for sure.”

Floied says he also hopes that the Angel Tree program helps build a positive relationship between the police and the community.

“A lot of times when people deal with the police, it’s on their worst day, and to be able to do something that’s not on somebody’s worst day, and if they’re in a struggle situation, to be able to put a smile on a kids face or let a parent take a deep breath and know that they’ve got something that they can give their kid at Christmas, that’s a pretty special moment,” he said.

While he says that the MPD are merely the facilitators of the program, he admitted that it is a good feeling thinking about the kids on Christmas morning.

“It’s nice, and you just know on Christmas day that there’s going to be some happy kids that might not otherwise have been happy if folks hadn’t have made the effort to help us out and make some donations.”