With the Thanksgiving season just around the corner, it will be Christmas before you know it.

And although many of us haven’t begun to make our shopping lists, local law enforcement officers have already starting raising money for the annual Shop with a Cop event.

The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement officers, as well as personnel from the Ironton Municipal Court, the Lawrence County Municipal Court, common pleas court and employees from the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office, have been hard at work making and selling apple butter, Rada cutlery and raffle tickets.

Anyone who buys any of these items is helping an extremely worthy cause, as the money goes towards helping less fortunate children have a special Christmas.

Last year, 50 children were able to stroll the aisles of Walmart in South Point side-by-side with a police officer and pick out warm winter clothing and some toys.

Without the effort of the county’s law enforcement officers, those children might not have had anything to open Christmas morning, or anything to keep them warm.

The event also promotes a good relationship between children and law enforcement, showing the children that officers are here to help the community.

We encourage everyone to support the Shop with a Cop, because supporting this effort is really supporting our community’s children.