Rescuing the holidays in the Swannanoa Valley
Black Mountain Police Department spends a day delivering gifts and cheer
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
December 23, 2020
Black Mountain Police Officer Emily Peterson delivers a box of Christmas gifts to one of eight local families on Dec. 18. Photo by Fred McCormick
A week before Christmas, Naomi Rangel, like many people in 2020, wasn’t sure what the holidays would bring for her two young children.
“It’s been a hard year,” the young mother said from her porch, Dec. 18. “I lost my job in March because I was pregnant and it wasn’t a safe environment for me, due to COVID.”
However, when Black Mountain Police Sergeant Cliff Gray and Lieutenant Chris Kuhn pulled up to her home, Rangel was emotional as they carried boxes of wrapped gifts into her house.
“It means so much to us,” she said, choking back tears. “I don’t think there are words to describe what this means to our family.”
As the family celebrated the arrival of gifts they would open around the tree on Christmas morning, Gray, Kuhn and others from the department were just beginning a shift that would brighten the holidays for eight local families.
BMPD began collecting and distributing gifts for local children in 1993, when longtime auxiliary police chief Johnny Raines, who passed away in 2015, founded the annual Christmas Cheer program. The Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry took over what is now known as the Johnny Raines Christmas Cheer program seven years ago, and when current police chief Shawn Freeman stepped into his position in May of 2017, he sought to establish a new holiday initiative within the department.
“Just about every department I’ve been with we’ve implemented a similar program,” Freeman said. “A lot of times, when people think of the police, they think of our job as being all about enforcement. But, really we’re here to help the community, and this is one way we can show that to our citizens.”
The department began fundraising efforts for the annual holiday program, which provides meals to families and elderly residents for Thanksgiving and Christmas gifts for local children, in a tent at the Sourwood Festival in 2017. The response was overwhelming.
“As soon as we started explaining what we were doing, local residents, businesses, visitors and all kinds of people jumped at the opportunity to support it,” Freeman said. “I think that’s really a testament to what a special community this is.”
The department raised as much as $12,000 for the holiday meal and gift initiative in previous years, but with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to put a strain on businesses, Freeman decided not to solicit donations in 2020.
“But, we knew this would be the year that people needed it most,” he said. “And, once again because this community is so generous when it comes to looking out for each other, people reached out to help.”
Black Mountain Police Chief Shawn Freeman places a card on a bicycle as the department delivers Christmas gifts to eight local families on Dec. 18. Photo by Fred McCormick
Black Mountain architect Maury Hurt and sisters Cheryl and Lisa Milton launched a campaign in the summer to raise funds to cater a meal for department staff and their spouses as a show of appreciation. The organizers reached out to residents and business owners who responded by funding a lunch from Red Radish, and donations of more than $4,000 for the holiday program.
The donation helped save the program this year, and BMPD personnel were eager to lend their support. The vast majority of officers committed $50 per month, from November through January, for a no-shave drive.
“The majority of the funding this year came from that generous fundraiser this summer, and from our staff here at the department,” Freeman said.
A different kind of day for law enforcement
A native of Ridgecrest, Sergeant Gray celebrated his 23rd anniversary with BMPD just days before he loaded up one of the department’s Dodge Durango and left to deliver gifts. While many officers who contributed to the no-shave fundraiser didn’t even grow beards, the department veteran took advantage of the opportunity.
“A lot of times, when I’m dealing with folks out here, it’s on their very worst day. Something’s gone haywire in their lives, or their family’s life, and we have to show up and deal with that,” he said, rubbing his newly grown beard. “That’s not always pretty, but today is an opportunity for the police to show up and make something positive happen. We’re not there to enforce or investigate; we’re there to be with folks on a good day.”
Sergeant Cliff Gray, a Ridgecrest native and 23-year veteran of the Black Mountain Police Department, carries a child’s bicycle out of the station on Dec. 18. Gray was one of several officers from the department that delivered gifts to families in Black Mountain the week before Christmas. Photo by Fred McCormick
Gray and Kuhn, a six-year veteran of the department, started the day by delivering gifts on the south side of town, receiving thankful, and sometimes emotional welcomes.
“It’s a different kind of day for us,” Gray said. “It feels good.”
The black Durango returned to the station where the officers reloaded it with wrapped gifts and bikes and headed north on Montreat Road to rendezvous with Officer Emily Peterson.
Peterson and Gray were greeted by the Sanchez family, as four eager children rushed out to walk their new bicycles to the porch. They thanked the officers and asked if they could have their picture taken with Peterson.
“They're so excited,” the children’s’ father said. “This is really nice, and we’re thankful.”
Emily Peterson, of the Black Mountain Police Department, poses for a picture with the children from the Sanchez family after delivering presents to their home. Photo by Fred McCormick
Gray, Kuhn and Peterson would make five more stops throughout the day, dropping off clothes, coats, toys, fishing rods and tackle, bikes, scooters, helmets and more. They were greeted with smiles and appreciation at every destination, and occasionally tears of joy.
It takes a team
While delivering the gifts was a daylong operation, organizing the program has been almost like an additional full-time job for Freeman and his wife Rhonda, the human resources coordinator for the Town of Black Mountain.
“There is no way we would be able to do this without my wife,” the chief said. “She does so much, from coordinating with the families to searching for sales and deals that help us stretch this money as far as possible. She’s a major reason this program has the kind of impact it does.”
The department identified some of the families who received gifts this year through community interaction, while some names were provided by the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry. Town staff, including the chief and his wife, wrapped the gifts in the department’s training room earlier this month. Freeman labeled the group of volunteers “the Blue Elves.”
Once wrapped, the gifts were placed in boxes and labeled with the name of the child who was receiving them. Those boxes lined the halls of the police department a week before Christmas.
Jennifer Tipton, the senior administrator for the Town of Black Mountain Planning Department, wraps gifts in the training room at BMPD in early December. The gifts were delivered to eight local families a week before Christmas. Photo by Fred McCormick
“When I look at this it really just reinforces how special this community is,” the chief said. “As tough as 2020 has been, we didn’t want to ask people for money, but these businesses and citizens didn’t even need to be asked. They just gave.”
The generosity of his hometown is impressive to Gray, but definitely not surprising.
“That’s one of the things that makes this place so special,” he said. “People here have looked out for each other for as long as I can remember.”
As Gray and Kuhn wished Rangel and her family a merry Christmas and prepared for their next delivery, the gesture resonated with her as she waved goodbye.
“My mother was a cop, so I’ve always been aware that the police do so much extra stuff that people don’t realize,” Rangel said. “This year, there has been a lot of controversy about police, but doing this for families like ours shows how so many of them are really here to help us.”