The local Walmart was packed Saturday morning as 100 volunteers and 126 children and their family members swarmed the aisles in the culminating event of the Gloucester Sheriff’s Office Shop With A Cop program.

GSO Lt. John Schick Jr., who has organized the SWAC effort in recent years, said local generosity supported his committee’s effort to raise a record $30,000 this year to provide Christmas gifts for children who might otherwise have little this holiday.

Those funds allowed more families to be involved with the program, creating a need for more volunteer escorts for the big shopping day. This year, Gloucester Kiwanis and Key Club members and staff members from county and court offices and Gloucester Public Schools joined the GSO personnel as volunteers. Also participating were some newly elected officials and others volunteering for the first time.

Along with the generosity of the community, Schick credited his committee members for a successful 2011 SWAC event....