Lakewood Officers' Charity Brings Spirit of Christmas to Old Country Buffet

Turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams.

That is what the adults ate for Christmas dinner.

Chocolate pudding, cinnamon rolls, macaroni and cheese.

That is what their kids ate.

Thursday night marked the Lakewood Officers’ Charity’s second annual Old Country Christmas at . About 160 members of families with students in the received dinner and heaping bags of gifts.

Most importantly, they visited with Santa.

It was the third and final holiday outreach project for the Lakewood Police Department’s charity, which handed out and took another .

The 35 families invited to the dinner Thursday were nominated by counselors at the district’s five poorest elementary schools: , , Oakwood, and .

donated eight hams and eight turkeys, which the Old Country Buffet cooked and served in addition to its steam-table offerings. While most of the parents took advantage of the opportunity to have fresh vegetables and a traditional holiday meal, the kids ate like, well, kids. They flocked to the dessert station, added nacho-cheese sauce to their turkey and washed dinner down with everything from chocolate milk to bright-blue slushees.

And once they were finished eating, they descended upon the giant bag of hats that Lakewood Police Lt. Heidi Hoffman and a friend collected for the event. There were at least 200, each knit, sewn or crocheted by hand by volunteers from all over the country who mailed them to the police department.

To the parents, it meant that their children would have something warm to wear this winter. To the kids, it was a fun scavenger hunt, rooting through the bag looking for the perfect color or size.

“The best part of this is bringing all of these people together,” said Community Service Officer Dawn McGinnis. “They’re enjoying each other, the Old Country Buffet, the holiday spirit. Some of these people haven’t had a meal today, and that is hard for me to wrap my head around.

"So for us to be able to do this, that’s a present to me.”

And speaking of gifts, once Santa arrived to pass out the giant black bags of goodies purchased by the charity, a sense of awe – and hope – descended upon the room. As the officers called families to come receive their presents, children of all ages would look up, a hopeful gleam in their eyes that their name, too, would eventually be called.

“This means the world to us,” said one 16-year-old girl who was there with her three sisters and four other young relatives. “We’re broke this year.”

Her older sister elaborated that they live with their grandmother, who just had major surgery, and that they had planned for the seven kids to share just one gift.

“They’re very excited,” she said, her voice tinged with emotion. “Santa is real.”

One mother, who was there with her three kids, aged five, four and seven months, said that she was both surprised and grateful to get the call inviting them to dinner.

“A couple of years ago, we had a fire, so every time my son sees a police car or an ambulance, he’s just mesmerized,” she said, adding that her oldest child, a kindergartener, has autism. “Being here really means a lot.”

Dinner topped off a great Thursday for the young mother, who earlier in the day received word that she would be able to go back to school this summer.

“It’s been a great day.”

Officer Mark Holthaus was one of several uniformed officers who dropped by to mingle with attendees. He said he tries to help at as many charity events as possible.

“These guys are busy enough as it is, so anything I can do to help,” he said, gesturing at the charity’s officers. “And I get to see the smiles on the kids’ faces.”

As the evening wrapped up and grateful parents came over to wish the police Merry Christmas and thank them for their generosity, Officer Tim Borchardt smiled.

Another successful season of giving was in the books.

“It’s great to do things like this,” said Borchardt, president of the Lakewood Officers’ Charity. “This is why we started the charity—and for these kids to see us in a different light. The best thing is seeing the kids come up and get their gifts.

“For a lot of them, this is their Christmas.”