Each year, money for the Shop with a Cop program comes from various fundraisers and donations throughout the year. But this year, one donation showed what the Christmas spirit truly is all about.

It was about a year ago when Glenn Cagle, a cook at the Haywood County Jail, came up with the idea to write a cookbook and raise money for local needy kids.

In his own quiet way, Cagle gathered support from his kitchen coworkers and began soliciting jailers, deputies, dispatchers and other sheriff’s office staff to contribute their own recipes. He even paid for the upfront cost of publication out of his own pocket.

The cookbook was about four months in the making and features a variety of old-fashioned recipes from no-bake cookies to baked rattlesnake.

“All he kept saying was that the money was ...