Pensacola Police and Target are getting teenagers in the holiday spirit with a shopping spree

PENSACOLA, FL. It’s the final countdown to Christmas.

The Pensacola Police Department is spreading the holiday spirit. The officers spent Monday morning treating the teenagers to a shopping spree.

Police say it’s their way of giving back. Children enjoyed shopping for themselves and their loved ones.

Teens like Kayla Allen went shopping.

“Knowing that there are people in our community that care about us is really … it’s really good and it means a lot.”

It is a partnership between PPD and Target department store.

The company annually holds the “Heroes and Helpers” promotion. Officers are nominating families who have faced hardship over the past year.

“We can investigate murders, we can investigate other violent crimes,” said Laura Mager, the police’s public affairs manager. “And it’s one of those things that these kids stick with us, they stick with our detectives, they stick with our team, they stick with who we are as individuals.”

PPD’s Mager says this year’s group was largely influenced by homicides in the area.

“What we really want to do is flip that switch and see smiles at the end of the year,” Mager says.

Nine teenagers shopped along the aisles with officers, each with a $100 gift card to cross items off their wish lists.

“Whatever kids want … from clothes, shoes, toothpaste, make-up, it doesn’t matter,” says Tashoy Walters, executive director of the services and engagement group.

“I have two jackets… Some scented candles, two blankets, Cheeto hot puffs,” Allen says.

It was an opportunity for teenagers to indulge themselves. Some chose to pay their gift forward.

“I think we saw probably four kids that were in the store today buying for others,” Mager says. “And here they were with the ability to get whatever they wanted, and they were buying presents for their mom, they were buying presents for their siblings.”

This usually involves Allen shopping for his younger sister and friends. Although she treated herself this time, she says she’s still thinking of others this Christmas.

“I kind of want to do this where my mom and dad cook and we go back to the homeless or go to shelters and stuff to give food away,” Allen says.

This year, PPD selected 20 families.

While the older children bought gifts on their own, a separate promotion with gifts was arranged for the younger ones.