Throughout the year, the Manheim Township Police Department serves the community as protector, mentor and partner. Around the holidays, the police department smoothly transitions into the role of Santa Claus.

Again this season, the Manheim Township Police Department is partnering with Lancaster Toys for Tots and the Millersville University Police Department in the holiday-driven, community-oriented program Police Shopping for Kids. Manheim Township is one of 34 municipal police departments from across Lancaster County involved with the project.

"There are so many good parts to it," said Manheim Township police officer Michele Klinger, who spearheads the local involvement with Police Shopping for Kids. "You're out in your community. You're engaging with your community. We signed up to help people for a living, and we all have a soft spot for children. The camaraderie of bringing everyone together is super important."

Here's how Police Shopping for Kids works.

Through donations, Lancaster Toys for Tots foots the bill for the officers' holiday toy shopping. The toys are then distributed to local children in need - up to three toys per registered child from infants to age 12 - at Spooky Nook Sports, 75 Champ Blvd., Manheim, between Dec. 11 and 21.

"We were all kids at one time," said Klinger. "The magic of Christmas never goes away if you're a kid at heart. You just have to use your memory. A lot of these officers have kids themselves."

"The toys are going to kids in our community," continued Klinger. "They're not getting shipped somewhere else. They're staying here in the community. That's important to us. It's helping families we already serve."

The Manheim Township Police Department is involved with a number of events designed to foster good will with the community throughout the year, including National Night Out, Trunk or Treat, First Responders Corn Maze Olympics and Coffee with a Cop. Police Shopping for Kids is one of its larger undertakings.

"Besides National Night Out, this is our biggest community event where we give back," said Klinger. "This is pretty big because we join forces with other agencies. We're just a part of it. We're trying to provide opportunities to interact with officers. With all of these events, we're fostering that relationship. We want our community to trust the police. We want to show them we're just like them. We have kids and families too. We're normal and we want to be approachable."

The Manheim Township Police Department has been involved with Police Shopping for Kids for more than a decade.

"I think our officers look forward to this every year," said Klinger. "We get a great turnout from all over the county. It brings us together. I think we're making a bigger impact. More people are aware."

"We want to build a strong relationship with our community," she added. "We want Manheim Township to be a place where people want to live and visit. We want people to come and open businesses here and feel like they're protected. We want them to have peace of mind. We want people to know that there's more good out there than evil."

For more information about Lancaster Toys for Tots or to donate, go to https://lancaster-pa.toysfortots.org.