The Police Lights of Christmas held their final Hand Off event on November 27 at Lambeau Field. 

“The Hand Off event is where we hand off all the gift cards, and the officers and volunteers put together the backpacks,” said Executive Director Katie Connell for the Police Lights of Christmas and the CFO of Lakeshore Communications (Q90FM), which is the outreach program of Q90FM. 

This event is the culmination of the entire year. Each department walks away that night with a box of thousands of dollars worth of gift cards and a few dozen backpacks. 

They have a core group of people who have volunteered for the past eight years. 

“It runs like a well-oiled machine as everyone already knows what to do,” said Connell. 

Ari Hinz, a junior here at NDA ,volunteered at the event this year at Lambeau. 

“All of the squad cars left carrying the bags with their lights and sirens on,” said Hinz. 

Packers quarterback Jordan Love also stopped by the event where Hinz had her photo taken alongside him.

The officers hand out gift cards and backpacks to those they come into contact with while out on patrol that could use a little help and hope during the holiday season.

“We have fundraising events throughout the year—a motorcycle ‘Ride With the Lights,’ Cops at Culver’s Day, Food Truck Festivals. Then the annual Hand Off event at the end of each year,” added Connell. 

All the funds raised at these events get converted into gift cards at the beginning of November each year. 

“We purchase the gift cards from local schools’ SCRIP programs so that the program benefits the community in more ways than one,” shared the Executive Director. 

This year, several schools stepped up to help collect items for the backpacks by doing collections among the students and families.