INCLUDES LIVELY VIDEO | Discover how a modest $250 grant grew into a 25-year back‑to‑school tradition in East Portland …
Outside this Fred Meyer store, Portland Police staff and families gather for the “Shop with a Cop” back-to-school shopping event.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
“Shop with a Cop” returned to East Portland at dawn at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, August 20, filling the Johnson Creek Fred Meyer store with kids, cops, and volunteers in the event’s 25th year.
As the store opened for business, eager students and their parents lined up outside the south entrance. Also gathering there was a large contingent of Portland Police Bureau (PPB) members – from Chief Bob Day and his command staff, down to district officers – all taking part on their own time, “off the clock” as they put it.
Inside the front entrance of the store, Portland Police officers receive a quick briefing on how the 25th annual “Shop with a Cop” event will unfold.
Before kids headed out into the aisles with officers, Sunshine Division Executive Director Kyle Camberg paused the action to honor one of the people who helped build the program, presenting the inaugural Bud Lewis Legacy Award to longtime volunteer – and the event’s founder – Amy Jacobs. “I feel like Bud would be honored by this,” Camberg told the group.
Before the gathered volunteers, Amy Jacobs reflects on how “Shop with a Cop” grew from a $250 grant into a 25-year tradition.
From $250 grant to 25–year tradition
Jacobs, who began the program while working at a Fred Meyer store on SE Foster Road, and a Manager of another Freddie’s store, reflected on how the idea started small and grew into a signature back‑to‑school event.
“This started 25 years ago with a $250 grant from ‘Weed and Seed’,” Jacobs recounted. She explained that the original effort grew out of the Lents–Brentwood-Darlington Weed and Seed program, a U.S. Department of Justice community‑based initiative administered locally through the Southeast Uplift neighborhood coalition, to target violent crime, drug activity, and neighborhood decay in outer Southeast Portland.
Jacobs recalled conferring with then PPB East Precinct Officer Larry Graham and Boys & Girls Clubs executive Libby Lescalleet, who had just opened the Lents Boys & Girls Club. “We met on our lunch hour – and this is how ‘Shop with the Cop’ came to fruition,” Jacobs explained.
For Jacobs, the day remained personal. “It is my favorite day,” she reflected. “The relationships it creates are incredible. There’s nothing like it, and I am honored to be presented with this award.”
At the official presentation of the Bud Lewis Legacy Award are, from left, Sunshine Division Board Chair Keli Myers of Rivermark Community Credit Union, Sunshine Division Executive Director Kyle Camberg, award recipient and event founder Amy Jacobs of Fred Meyer, Fred Meyer President Todd Kammeyer, and Portland Police Chief Bob Day (Portland Mayor Keith Wilson not pictured).
Dana Kinney, Sunshine Division’s director of development, outlined why Jacobs became the first recipient of the new honor. The Bud Lewis Legacy Award, Kinney told East Portland News, is designed “to present to somebody who exemplifies community impact and volunteerism in the community, and who also supports Sunshine Division.”
See eager young ‘customers’ with their ‘personal shoppers’ at this year’s event:
Shopping, supplies and support for families
Once the brief ceremony concluded, kids and parents were paired up with PPB officers who walked them through the store on a clothing shopping spree. Each child took part in Sunshine Division’s Izzy’s Kids “Shop with a Cop” program, which identifies participants based on financial need.
As “Shop with a Cop” gets rolling, Central Precinct NRT Officer Jeobany Torres shops alongside a boy in the clothing aisles.
According to Camberg, children are referred by social service agencies, schools, and nonprofit organizations working with families facing “financial hardship, housing instability, immigration and refugee challenges, and other barriers to meeting basic needs”.
Each child received a $165 Fred Meyer gift card to spend, with a first responder at their side – the funding provided through the Sunshine Division, and underwritten by community donations. Fred Meyer also offered significant clothing discounts during the event to stretch those dollars.
Lt. Robin Dunbar of PPB’s SCU/Human Trafficking Unit helps her young shopper pick out back-to-school outfits.
“Major regional partners also helped pack the morning with supplies,” Camberg emphasized. “Columbia Sportswear donated new backpacks; Boeing contributed school supplies for all 240 children; and more supplies came from Fred Meyer.” Volunteers staffed tables outside the store, handing out backpacks and school items as families finished their shopping trips.
Outside near the garden center, Sunshine Division volunteers distributed food boxes to families in need, tying the back‑to‑school event to the organization’s year‑’round hunger‑relief work.
Families began checking in around 7 a.m.; and, after checkout, kids stopped at another station to pick up backpacks and fill them with school supplies and treats before heading out – now much better equipped for the coming school year, and with a new personal connection to the officer who helped them shop.
Mission now completed, in the checkout line it’s PPB Chief Bob Day, with his young shopping partner.
Returning this year, distributing backpacks to students, are Columbia Sportswear’s Kristen Drozdowski and Brandy Agness.
Sunshine Division’s broader mission
Organizers framed the 25th anniversary of “Shop with a Cop” as one part of Sunshine Division’s long‑running partnership with the Portland Police Bureau. Founded in 1923, the nonprofit operates grocery‑style food markets and home‑delivery programs for local families, and coordinates community efforts such as this back‑to‑school shopping day.
By recognizing Jacobs with an award named for one of Sunshine Division’s most devoted volunteers, and by continuing to partner with corporate backers and front‑line police officers, the group aims to show that a modest grant and a lunchtime planning meeting could evolve into a tradition that now spans generations.
© 2026 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
