Santa Cop barn dance fund-raiser tonight

PALMER — A few years ago, Donna Anthony received a call asking her to come to dispatch at the Palmer Police Department, where she works as a police officer. The husband of a woman Anthony had never met was on the line, saying his wife was on her deathbed.

“I did traffic stops where she lived and she just loved to watch me do traffic stops,” Anthony said. “She wanted to meet me before she passed away. She was probably 65 but she looked like she was 80, small and brittle from the cancer.”

That experience made a big impact on Anthony, and is one reason she launched Santa Cop, an annual event in which Palmer, Wasilla and Houston police officers, Alaska State Troopers, firefighters and paramedics raise money to buy, wrap and distribute gifts for Valley senior citizens who otherwise would receive no visits, no attention from family during the holiday season. “There was a need for it,” she said of the eight-year-old event.

Organizers of Santa Cop are sponsoring a fund-raising barn dance tonight from 6 to 11 at the Palmer Depot. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children. A silent auction is planned, live country bands will perform and beer, wine and food will be available for purchase.

Auction items and door prizes include gift cards and gift certificates from Three Bears, Fred Meyer and a variety of other local businesses, 10 tickets for Alaska Avalanche hockey games, Mat-Su Miners tickets and merchandise, two Wilderness Explorer glacier cruises, a hunting tree stand, knives from Chimo Guns, two tactical lights from Northern Security, 1,100 pounds of round-bale brome hay, a new $750 barrel-racing saddle, two Alaska Railroad round-trip Anchorage-to-Denali tickets.

A wrapping party is scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, at the Wasilla Senior Center. The event is open to anyone who wants to bring a dish and help Santa Cop participants wrap gifts for senior citizens.

Anthony said that when the nonprofit first began, police officers distributed toys to children.

“The first and second year we did this, but there were so many programs helping kids and there was nothing for the seniors,” Anthony said. “We’d be out on a call and noticed that a lot of seniors are home by themselves. It seems like a lot of them moved up here, didn’t have any family. Or their family moved out of state, husband or wife passed away and they were by themselves. They just don’t have any family. We thought, let’s give them a warm meal, give them some gifts.”

Santa Cop brought gifts to 20 seniors in 2007. The following year, 56 seniors received gifts. Last year, the event reached 147 seniors; donations totaled more than $11,000. It’s still too soon to tell how many seniors will receive gifts and meals this year, Anthony said.

“We’ll get a number closer toward Christmas,” Anthony said. “A lot of them look forward to seeing us at Christmas. We’re looking at the barn dance, then the wrap party — that’s when people in the community come together and we wrap gifts, and everyone brings a dish. Then we start getting their names together. This year, firefighters are joining, and EMS. There are so many locations to go to, we need more help.”

Each senior last year received a warm meal prepared at the Palmer Senior Citizens Center, along with several gifts and a $100 gift card from Wal-Mart to help the seniors buy any hygiene products they need that couldn’t otherwise be provided.

“We started out with some nice quilts, hats, gloves, to stay warm,” Anthony said. “This year, the seniors will fill out a form listing what five gifts they’d like, asking if they’re diabetic, if they have animals. When someone shows up, they’ll see someone in uniform and know they’re safe. If they live remote, we’ll go remote. A lot of them live at home, sometimes in some small places.”

The event grew from Palmer to Wasilla to Houston. This year, Santa Cop will include seniors in Willow, Talkeetna and Sutton.

“I got with the senior centers,” Anthony said. “They’re just great. They have extra resources, the Meals on Wheels program; they work with us on meals. We want to make sure we get them a warm meal on Christmas.”

The visits can save lives. One Palmer police officer who participated in Santa Cop knocked on a woman’s door, didn’t get an answer and came back later.

“When he went in the house, it was freezing cold,” Anthony said. “He asked her how come she didn’t answer before and she said it was too cold to get out of bed. As soon as the manager found out, we got her heat taken care of. If we didn’t go there, how much longer would she have had to put up with that? We’re going to check smoke detectors, carbon-monoxide detectors and do a safety check when we go to [seniors’] homes.”

Anthony says she tries to give every officer, dispatcher, firefighter and other participants five seniors to visit and spend time with on Christmas morning.

“It’s a tradition now to have a late Christmas dinner with their own family,” she said. “They take their kids with them. It’s good for the kids and also good for the seniors.”

For more information about Santa Cop, visit www.matsusantacop.org.