Blue Santa program delivers presents, hope

The Lovell Police Department helped to deliver presents, joy and good spirits to Lovell families Sunday.
In the Blue Santa program, part of the large Share a Stocking program that brings gifts and clothes to families in the community who are in need, police officers drive around town with Santa and drop off gifts and groceries to those in need.
Dan Laffin, Chief of Police, said that the program has been a priority since he was first appointed to his position in 2017.
“It’s so important for the community, especially small communities, to know that we are the community,” Laffin said. “We’re not some jackbooted thugs that rule over the community. We are members of the community, active. Our families go to school, their children go to school, we’re all part of one big family.”
Officers drive around Lovell in their squad cars, stopping at each house replete with gifts and the good spirit of Santa Claus. Santa engages with the kids while the officers carry gifts inside and set them by the family tree.
Other outreach programs that the police department has implemented to foster community partnerships are the wooden nickel program, community events and after school programs, he said.
Janet Koritnik, Marketing, Foundation and Grants Coordinator for North Big Horn Hospital, organizes the Share a Stocking program through the hospital district and said she put around 100 hours into organizing the presents. This year, 59 families and 171 kids have benefited from the program, which Koritnik says is around average.
Many community members were overjoyed to receive gifts for Christmas, with children running out to hug Santa, asking if he remembered them from last year. Tiffany Ortega was moved to tears as the officers delivered presents to her family’s house.
  “You guys are absolutely amazing. I cannot believe this. Thank you guys so much. Thank you,” Ortega said.
Koritnik said that she has been running the stocking program for 20 years, since she took her role at the hospital, and that the program was going on before then. Every single stocking that was taken was returned with presents, which is a “miracle in and of itself when you have that many,” she said.
Laffin said that community outreach programs are as much of a benefit to the officers as they are to the community.
“Most of the times when we engage with people, it’s in times of crisis. Whether it’s, you know, something going on, something’s been done to them, or they have slipped off a little bit and they’ve done something not quite right,” he said. “So, it’s really nice to have these engagements when it’s not in times of crisis, when it is helpful, and community based.”
Laffin said he is “floored” every year by support of the stocking program. He thanked Koritnik and North Big Horn Hospital District for their time, calling Koritnik a “logistics genius.” Laffin also thanked citizens for making monetary donations to the police department that allowed the department to provide three families with groceries.
Laffin said sometimes people wonder why so many cop cars are “rolling in one direction” but when the people see Santa Claus and presents, the officers are embraced with open arms. He said it is a “wonderful” community to deliver presents to and he plans for the program to be a part of police outreach for years to come.
“Just a super Merry Christmas to the community. Thank you all so much for the outpouring of support. This is the greatest place to be a police officer in the entire United States, bar none,” he said.