Brookings-area law enforcement officers were dispatched to the Brookings Walmart store on Dec. 13 to spread holiday cheer as part of the annual “Christmas, Kids and Cops” program.

The program helped 37 Brookings-area families this year realize a memorable Christmas through local fundraising that produces $350 in shopping money for use at Walmart, a food basket, gift cards for Buffalo Wild Wings, Pizza Ranch and Brookings Cinema 8 and a Subway meal.

“The program is 100 percent fully funded through donations from the community,” Brookings County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jeremy Kriese said in an interview with the Brookings Register earlier this year. “All the donations received go directly to these families in Brookings County, to kids in our school districts and kids in our communities and their families.”

The Brookings, Elkton, Sioux Valley, Deubrook and Arlington school districts all took part in the program — which is in its 16th year — and Kriese is part of the team that plays an essential role each year. His partners are Brookings Police Department Lt. Joe Fishbaugher and Sandy McClemans, who is retired from the South Dakota Department of Labor.