EXETER TWP. Pa. – Red lights, fire trucks and a line of excited kids walking into Boscov’s in Exeter Township.
Thursday night marked the return of “Shop with a Firefighter.” Twenty students from the Exeter Township School District were each paired with a firefighter for a special evening of holiday shopping.
“Tonight is one of the best nights of the year,” said Jim Boscov, chairman and CEO of Boscov’s.
“What amazes me on a night like tonight is the kids are not shopping for themselves,” he said. “They’re going to shop for their brothers, their sisters, their mothers and their fathers.”
The event is a partnership between Boscov’s and the Exeter Township Volunteer Fire Department.
“For years, the police did ‘Shop with a Cop,’ and we said, ‘Well, why don’t we do it with a firefighter?’” said Fire Chief Chris Jordan. “About 15 years ago, some of our members put together a committee, and we started a ‘Shop with a Firefighter’ event, and we’ve been doing it ever since.”
Lt. Steve Begley was shopping with Aliyah on Thursday.
“This has to be my favorite community event,” Begley said. “The kids usually have a list to shop for their family…and it’s a lot of fun.”
Aliyah was ready.
“I got my dad, my sister, my brother and my mom,” she said about her shopping list.
From toy, to clothes, to one special surprise — it’s a night that wouldn’t be complete without a certain someone.
“We have a special visitor,” Boscov added. “Santa Claus came all the way from the North Pole, and he’s going to be visiting with the kids as well.”