TEXARKANA - The phrase “Tis the season” means different things to different people. To one 12-yearold boy, it meant spending his shopping money on someone else this Christmas.
“I went and grabbed an angel off the tree because I already have so much,” said Tommy Tye, a sixth-grader at Pleasant Grove Middle School, describing his Christmas shopping experience earlier this month with the Deputy Michael Page Children’s Organization and Shop With a Cop program at the Texarkana Wal-Mart store.
Tommy was one of 67 children who got to shop with officers earlier this month at the store. Some children were selected for the program because they’ve had a scary encounter with a police officer. Perhaps police were called to their homes for some reason, for example. Others were selected by the Deputy Michael Page Children’s Organization. Tommy was chosen because his father, Wake Village police detective Chad Tye, died last year.
The children’s organization was created by Michael Page’s sister, Barbara, as a way to honor Page, a fallen officer.
Tommy said he was in the store when he noticed that the Salvation Army angel tree still had angels’ lists hanging on it, so he walked over and picked one. It was for a 6-year-old boy, and Tommy bought the boy two outfits.
Tommy’s actions did not go unnoticed.
Wal-Mart employees started checking to see if they had any cash in their pockets, and several officers donated their own money to Tommy so he would be able to shop for his own gifts as well as the angel he had selected. Some people could give only a couple of dollars. Some gave him $100 bills. Tommy was able to buy his angel more presents and get himself some presents, too.
“We have gotten so many blessings this year, and I just have so much, and there are so many children on the trees that have so little, so I decided to get one of them so they could have a good Christmas,” Tommy said.
Tommy’s grandmother Emily Smith and his mother, Karmen Tye, cried as they watched Tommy pick the angel off the tree and start shopping for the 6-year-old. They marveled at Tommy’s generosity and that of those who pitched in to help him. They said they were grateful for the store workers and the police officers who donated their time and money to help someone else - someone they didn’t know, someone they very possibly will never meet.
“We did have a few officers step up and get extra $100s so he could get something for himself. He didn’t want to get anything for himself,” said Texarkana Public Information Officer Kristi Mitchell.
Tommy’s mother said that despite the loss they experienced last year with her husband’s death, the family has been blessed this year, and the angel experience at the store was just another example of that.
“It really touched my heart,” she said.
Tommy’s shopping for the less-fortunate child will be remembered, even next year and beyond, his mother and grandparents said.
“You taught us something, buddy. You taught us the way we ought to be instead of how we are,” said his grandfather Tommy Smith.
“We ought to do this all the time,” Emily Smith said. “There was so much love and kindness and giving in Wal-Mart that day,” she said. “There is a lot of meanness out there, but there is still good people.”
Emily Smith said the best thing about her grandson is that he doesn’t just think about other people only once a year. He makes it a daily practice, something she credits to the example set by his mother.
“I couldn’t be more proud of him. I couldn’t be more proud,” Emily Smith said.
Her husband said he shared her pride.
“It’s not just that he is my grandson. I was just proud of him. Just proud I knew him,” his grandfather said, fighting back tears.
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 12/26/2013