(City-Times photo)

City-Times Staff

Plover Police Officer Seth Pionke shops with about a dozen area elementary students on Wednesday during a new program which provides deserving kids with new school clothes and supplies.

Pionke has been instrumental in creating other community-based programs in the department, including “Lunch with a Cop”, where officers eat lunch with students at Plover Area schools, and “Shop with a Cop”, where deserving students get a one-on-one shopping experience with a police officer as they chose Christmas presents for their immediate family members. Both program are funded by donations with some matching funds from Walmart.

This new program was only created a few weeks ago, when Pionke said an anonymous donor gave the department $5,000 for community- based programs. Pionke said he was working with social workers and teachers from the area to take the kids shopping at Walmart in Crossroads Commons this week, where selected deserving students get school supplies and new clothing for the start of the school year.

But Pionke said there was one item on some of the school supply lists which didn’t make sense to him.

“I don’t understand why they’d need ten glue sticks each,” Pionke said, shaking his head and smiling. “But if the kids need it, we’ll do what we can for them.”