The Cherry Hill FOP Lodge 28 brought back a holiday tradition, with a special party for kids with disabilities on December 18, 2023. The annual holiday party finally returned after being put on a 3 year hold, due to Covid-19. The party has been hosted since 1974 and was finally resumed this year after the long break.

We would like to thank all of the students and schools that attended, all our volunteers and our sponsors that made this happen - Double Tree Hotels Cherry Hill, Chick Fil-A Garden State Park, Ravitz ShopRite.

A special thanks to our Lodge's chaplain, Robert Menta, for taking over the logistics of the event and the student volunteers of the Cherry Hill High Schools. Without you all, this party would not have been the success it continues to be.

News coverage below.

Cherry Hill Fraternal Order of Police brings back a holiday tradition with a special party for kids with disabilities

The party had been on ice since 2020, when COVID-19 came to town

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — A traditional holiday party for students with intellectual disabilities, staged by the Cherry Hill Fraternal Order of Police, returned Monday after a pandemic hiatus.

Students from Cherry Hill High Schools West and East mix and mingle with a jingling beat to make sure their guests have a good time at the 2023 Cherry Hill FOP holiday party. Photo credit Mike DeNardo/KYW Newsradio

The FOP party brings about 300 students together for dancing, hot dogs and ice cream, and a meet-and-greet with Santa Claus himself.

Student volunteers from Cherry Hill High Schools East and West joined forces to decorate the ballroom at the Cherry Hill DoubleTree Hotel and to greet and entertain their wide-eyed guests.

“There’s snowflakes almost everywhere!” said Arden Leslie, a junior at East. “There’s not a single place you can go where you’re not going to see a little paper snowflake!”

West sophomore Nhi Nguyen helped set up a special place where the guests could meet a certain yuletide celebrity.

“We also prepared, in the back room, a Santa place for kids where they can go in and meet Santa,” Nguyen said. “It’s amazing. It just makes me feel the joy. And it’s amazing that I can make somebody smile.”

For this party, the East and West volunteers set aside any rivalries between their sister schools, Leslie said. “When it comes to such an important thing like this, there’s no barrier between East and West. We’re all coming together to give back to the community.”

West senior Donovan Navarrete agreed. “I feel like keeping it up will help bring our communities together.”

The event had been an annual tradition since 1974, but retired Cherry Hill police officer Robert Menta says this is the first party since 2019, before COVID-19 threw a wrench in the works.

“I did not want to see it end, since I was one of the ones who started it,” Menta said. “So I decided to put it back together.”

Officer Jerry Gares said the FOP decided it was the right time to bring it back — for the joy it brings to the kids. “When they’re interacting with Santa, when they see a police officer, it makes everything worth it. And it reminds you why you got into this profession to begin with,” Gares said.

“It gets back to the root of why you became a police officer and why we have this organization. It’s to serve.”

https://www.audacy.com/kywnewsradio/news/local/cherry-hill-nj-fop-christmas-party-kids-disabilities