By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Oxford — The purpose of Shop with a Hero is simple: to provide a great Christmas for the kids.
On Dec. 6, four kids from Brandon Township got to join three Brandon Fire Department members at the Oxford Meijer to shop for Christmas presents. The event is sponsored by Meijer, and they provided $300, which the Brandon Firefighters Foundation matched so each kid had $150 to spend.
“We get our names from St. Anne Church, and we contact the families and arrange a date and time and go shopping,” said Paul Vassall, BFD Firefighter. Vassall has been coordinating and participating in Shop with a Hero for around 20 years.
“I love seeing the kids running up and down the aisles and picking out things they want and picking out things for family members,” said Vassall. “That’s how you know you’ve really got the Christmas spirit, is when they start shopping for the family.”
This year, BFD shopped with a six-year-old boy, a 10-year-old boy, a 13-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl.
“It’s rewarding, I think that’s why it’s important to me,” he said. “The children that we provide for, they have it tough. The kids we had this year were fantastic.”