THOMASVILLE- The spirit of Christmas could be felt throughout Walmart on Thursday evening, as the store welcomed in the annual Wander with a First Responder Program.

The program pairs children with first responders from Thomasville Fire Rescue, Thomas County Fire Rescue, and the Thomasville Police Department. This year the children were also joined by responders from the State Fire Marshal’s office. After being paired, the duos enjoy a taco bar dinner at El Jalisco, meeting Santa, and shopping at Walmart.

According to Community Relations Sergeant Crystal Parker, the children are recommended by their schools.

“We get with the guidance counselor at the school and they help us select who would be deserving of the program or who might need to be able to participate,” she said in a previous interview.

While in the past the program has catered to children of all ages, Parker said this year the team focused on younger children.

“We found that middle schoolers didn’t show up last year, but the kids are always excited, so we tried to have mostly younger kids this year,” she said. “We hope to find another way to connect with the middle grade students.”

Children aren’t the only ones who leave the program with a smile on their faces. For the second year in a row, Second Harvest donated pantry boxes that S&L Integrated Services passed out to parents when they dropped their children off. The pantry boxes contained items necessary to fix a traditional Christmas meal, along with donated turkeys from Walmart to cook.

The experience was overwhelming for some of the children, who didn’t know what to make of the event.

“We have a few that come in and are really shy,” Parker said. “They don’t want their parents to leave, but once they get paired with their shopping buddy they grow to enjoy spending time with their responder and running around and playing with the other kids.”

While at Walmart, first responders are given pre-loaded cards with $100 on them to spend on each kid. The money is a combination of grants and donations given to TPD.

The money allows the children to pick out whatever is at the top of their list. Parker said a few kids left with bicycles and scooters, while others picked out new clothes to don at school in the New Year.

Toys for Tots additionally worked with the program to provide gifts for the siblings of children who were not chosen to partake in Wander with a First Responder.

“A lot of times siblings will show up with their parent to drop off the child who was chosen and unfortunately we can’t accommodate every single kid in every family, so they were able to bring toys to give to other kids in the household,” Parker said in a previous interview.

While it’s not always possible, Parker said they were able to accommodate multiple sibling groups this year. The program provided for 45 children from 30 families.

Parker was thankful to the officers who gave up their time to make every child’s wishlist come true and to both El Jalisco and Walmart for hosting the large group.

She said she is hopeful this experience will show first responders in a positive light. She understands some of these children may have only seen officers on their worst day, but believes through this interaction children can see officers care for them and strive to be there in both the good and the bad.

“I hope they got something positive from this time together,” she concluded.