Harvest Baptist and Walmart enable kids to ‘Shop with the Heroes’
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Kourtney Hawkins and her daughter, Daisy, have struggled through extraordinary losses the past two years.
Hawkins’ son, Ryder, died two years ago, and her husband, Scottie Joe, was killed in June in a motorcycle crash along Markle Road in Allegheny Township.
“My daughter has been through it,” Hawkins, of Vandergrift, said. “I want to make sure she has a nice holiday.”
Harvest Baptist Church in Harrison is stepping up to make sure 8-year-old Daisy and about 25 other kids get some holiday cheer.
For the seventh year, the church is spearheading a Shop with the Heroes event, which kicks off at 10:45 a.m. Sunday with a church service and lunch. That will be followed by a shopping trip to Walmart, where children are paired with firefighters, police officers and military servicemen and servicewomen.
The event is one of several similar shopping sprees typically held by first responders in the Alle-Kiski Valley.
This year, 11 families will get the chance at a shopping spree, mostly to fill their need for warm clothes, but also to toss some Barbies or trucks in the cart and make them smile, Walmart manager Tony Soltis said.
The store off of Freeport Road in the Highlands Mall has been involved in the church effort for at least five years.
“It means a lot to all of us,” Soltis said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to give back to the community and make sure the kids that don’t have the coats and gloves and warm clothes get them.”
The church spends about $7,000 on the items, according to Pastor Marc Likins. Any expenses above that are picked up by Walmart, Soltis said.
What’s equally as exciting for some kids is the chance to buddy up with a firefighter, police officer or military personnel.
Emergency vehicles fill the parking lot, and Likins said the pairings help create a positive narrative for children who might have had a rough experience with police or EMS.
“I think the biggest impact is that Christmas and holidays, in general, are supposed to be a happy time for families to be together and celebrate,” said New Kensington police Officer Jacob McMaster, the school resource officer at Valley High School. “If the family is struggling, these events help alleviate some financial burden of buying presents.”
Likins said all of the families nominated for the Shop with the Heroes event have experienced heartache or loss, or have been financially strained by a house fire, job loss or other life-changing event.
“We just want to relieve them of it, even if just for a brief moment,” said Nicole Fink, a Harvest Baptist volunteer.
Likins said the Shop with the Heroes event is invaluable because it helps people who have dealt with immeasurable pain in the past year.
“There are tear-filled, ultra-grateful families with us every year who go out of their way to hug us and thank us for thinking of them this Christmas season,” he said.
Jim Erb, Citizens Hose EMS supervisor, said his group is proud to participate.
“We are dedicated to the health and wellness of all the citizens in Harrison and surrounding communities, no matter what their age,” Erb said. “We are not looking to have a community that survives, but one that thrives.”
Level Green resident Hope Stambaugh said her family will be part of the shopping event after her husband, Paul, died suddenly in August.
She is “honored and humbled” for her four children, ages 17, 15, 13 and 11, to be invited. They have been students at Harvest Baptist Academy since 2019.
“(Paul) was a wonderful husband and amazing father and missed tremendously every day,” she said. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the love of God through His people, our church and our community that have rallied around and loved our family. It’s made walking through this valley, especially during the holidays, a little easier and we are so thankful.”
For Hawkins, seeing Daisy smile will be the best holiday gift.
“She’s gonna love shopping,” Hawkins said. “We’ve had an army of people around us and it helps to know people are there.”