By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Toys, kids and and some local heroes gathered for a growing Christmas tradition.
On Dec. 6, six Brandon Township students—two paired with Oakland County Sheriff officers from Brandon along with four with Brandon Firefighters participated in ‘Shop with a Hero’ at the Oxford Meijer, 900 Lapeer Road. The kids each receive $150 and also get to have dinner with the emergency personnel they shop with.
“It’s enjoyable, it’s fun,” said Jonathan Schechter, an on-call firefighter and paramedic with the Brandon Fire Department.

“Watching the kid’s expressions, they vary from really shy to shop until they drop.”
Schechter was one of five Brandon Fire volunteers who shopped with children from Brandon, and he has for seven years.
“She wanted LOLs, and I said ‘what are LOLs?’ and we went back and forth and I said ‘Laugh Out Loud?’ and she said ‘No, L O L’ so I went and got a clerk to help,” laughed Schechter. “She had a list of things, but she didn’t follow it after a while because she kept going to things that were pink or LOL. She knew what she wanted.”
Many of the children also shopped for their parents and siblings, and some even for their pets. Some of the students are sponsored by Meijer and some are sponsored by the participating agencies.
“She was full of energy, real positive energy,” said Schechter. “And she knew how to scan things better than I did. She went a little over, but they covered it with extra cards which was really cool.”