AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — The Amarillo Police Department is set to host its annual “COPS for CASA,” toy and gift card drive from Nov. 16-18.

APD said it will accept donations throughout the month of November at several locations including:

• Amarillo Police Department 200 SE 3rd Ave.
• Budweiser Distributing of Amarillo 100 S Philadelphia St.
• CB Boutique, LLC 2820 Virginia Circle
• El Camino Dining room 225 US-87, Tulia, TX
• Seven Starbucks locations including:
  • 1371 W. Wilson St, Borger, TX
  • 3240 S. Soncy Road Amarillo, TX
  • 5140 S. Coulter St. Amarillo, TX
  • 5501 Plum Creek Drive Amarillo, TX
  • 2335 Georgia Street Amarillo, TX
  • 8619 Canyon Drive Amarillo, TX
  • 3512 E. Interstate 40 Amarillo, TX

Nov. 16-18 APD will accept donations at Northen Tool and Equipment located at 2403 S Soncy Rd. On Nov. 16 and 17 from 4 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., on Nov. 18 APD will be there from 10 a.m.- 8 p.m.

APD will have vehicles out that the community can take pictures with and get a tour of.

Sgt. Carla Burr with APD shared they work with CASA advocates and they want to provide joy for children in the foster care system during the holidays.

“What we want is to make sure that for Christmas, which is one of the biggest times of the year for people to have unrest in their lives, it’s pretty traumatic,” said Burr. “We want these kids to get something for Christmas. So, by us helping do this toy drive, we’re hoping to bring more awareness to it and make sure that all of the kids that are helped through the CASA Amarillo program, get Christmas this year.”

Toys that are donated must be new in the original packaging and gift cards can be for anything.

Sgt. Burr shared that when kids are removed from their homes, they often have a trash bag of their belonging, and this drive helps them receive things they need and want.

“We want to make sure that these kids that are going through this foster system for whatever the end result is that for Christmas, they have a happy Christmas, and they get the things that they need,” said Burr. “A lot of them, especially if they were removed from their homes, they were removed with a trash bag full of just the bare necessities and that’s a terrible way to have that happen. We want to make sure these kids get what they need and what they want and get some kind of joy out of the Christmas holiday.”

For more information on the toy and gift card drive you can visit the Amarillo Police Department’s Facebook or Amarillo CASA Inc. Facebook.