An atmosphere of charity mixed with one of purchase power Saturday as the Lincoln Police Union auctioned more than 100 items to benefit its Santa Cop program.
Bidders gathered in the Auld Pavilion at Antelope Park, 3140 Sumner St., Saturday night to buy authentic collectibles and useful goods donated by local businesses and firms. The money will be used to buy and deliver toys to underprivileged children for the holidays.
This year's items included a guitar autographed by Brooks and Dunn, a pair of Wrangler jeans autographed by Garth Brooks, original art, an autographed Nebraska Husker football and volleyball, Maverick hockey tickets, gift certificates, cellular phones, cookies and tires.
But many people attending did not come merely to buy the goods.
"I showed up to support the organization," said Judi Gierlich, one of the people attending the auction.
Gierlich heard about the auction through mail and phone calls from the police department. Others, like Jim and Carol Thoms and Julie Gade, heard about the auction on local country station KZKX-FM 96.9.
The auction marks the beginning of the Santa Cop program, a much larger effort to "keep the magic of Christmas alive for all children," according to banners and fliers at the event.
The program began 17 years ago when a group of police officers realized that current programs were inadequate, said Officer Thomas Duden, Lincoln Police Union charities president.
Duden and other officers created the program when they realized that some underprivileged families were not eligible to get help from Lincoln's low-income programs.
Usually people associate the police with bad things, Duden said. Through the Santa Cop program, they can be associated with something positive.
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