Princeton police officers and firefighters plan to spend an evening in December pushing shopping carts alongside children from the local Boys & Girls Club, and the department is asking the city's Community Development Corporation to help pay for it.
A memo from Police Chief James Waters in the packet for the CDC's Wednesday, Nov. 18, meeting asks the board for $5,000 toward Shop with a Hero. The event is set for 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16, at the Walmart on West Princeton Drive.
The plan is to give up to 50 Boys & Girls Club children $200 apiece to shop for themselves or their families. That puts the full shopping budget at $10,000.
The Boys & Girls Club has applied for a $5,000 Walmart grant to cover the other half, but that grant is still pending, and Waters wrote that the size of the event will depend on how much money comes in.
Police and fire personnel would serve as shopping partners, with no more than two children assigned to each employee. A presentation in the packet sets a goal of at least 25 police and fire volunteers.
Other requests on the agenda
The CDC, which rules on requests to use the Steven and Judy Deffibaugh Community Center, has several other items Wednesday:
- Free use of the community center. The Turning Point, a Plano nonprofit that provides free counseling, advocacy and forensic services to survivors of sexual violence, wants the building on Dec. 2 or Dec. 9 for a holiday event for Princeton families. Staff recommend waiving the fee, as the group has used the center at no cost before. A new Girl Scout Daisy troop is also asking for a fee waiver for three meetings.
- A garden club's pitch. The founder of Cross Vines Gardens, a new Princeton club affiliated with Texas Garden Clubs, will ask for a permanent meeting space in a city building and outline a proposal to lead the city's first year in America in Bloom, an outside community assessment program. The club lists the registration and report at an estimated $2,300 and says other project costs are still being worked out.
- A plaque and a possible rededication. The board will discuss where to hang a new dedication plaque, already purchased, for the renovated community center that reopened in 2025, and whether to hold a ceremony.
- Bylaws. The board will consider amended bylaws after the city attorney made what staff describe as substantive changes following an October joint meeting with the Economic Development Corporation.
The consent agenda also includes a first amendment to the community center's operating agreement; the packet does not include the amendment's text.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at the Princeton Municipal Center, 2000 E. Princeton Drive.
Sources
princetontx.gov
