100 kids meal toys decorate Sheriff's Department
tree
By
Ken Kosky NWI Times
Monday, December 08, 2008
VALPARAISO | The records clerks at the Porter
County Sheriff's Department ate more than 100
kids meals this past year, each time saving the
Barbie dolls, Hulks, Speed Racers and other toys
so they could use them as holiday ornaments.
Their year-long plan has now come to fruition as
they tied ribbons on the toys and hung them on
the holiday tree that greets customers who come
to their window for police reports or other
records. The clerks even strung the tree with
French fry garland and put kids meal boxes under
the tree as presents,
At the end of the holiday season, all the toys
on the tree, plus numerous other toys that
wouldn't fit on the tree, will be given to a
charity that needs toys, or will be given to
police officers to hand out to children they
encounter who are upset because of an accident,
family fight or other incident.
"We planned this (toy-themed tree) at the
beginning of the year and just went with it. It
was a good excuse to eat Happy Meals," said
Records Supervisor Barbara Coggins, who worked
on the project with clerks Lynn Williams, Sue
Adamczewski and Mary Pellegrini.
Coggins said the clerks ate at McDonald's,
Burger King and Wendy's to get a variety of food
and a variety to toys and characters--
everything from Bee Movie, to Star Wars to
Wizard of Oz.
This isn't the first time the clerks came up
with a tree theme that amused their co-workers
and customers. Two years ago, they hung spent
Taser cartridges from their tree and wrapped it
with police tape.
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