Operation Blue Light Heroes: new Children’s book to raise funds for charity this Christmas

The Operation Blue Light Santa team is back for a third consecutive year, and with the third in the Blue Light Santa series of children’s books: Operation Blue Light Heroes.

This year’s book was penned by journalist Jessica Thompson, author of the previous two books, Operation Blue Santa (2021) and Operation Blue Nose Reindeer (2022).

The story is beautifully illustrated by Pat Taaffe.

Annually, through light-hearted storytelling, the Operation Blue Light Santa books teach children the importance of kindness and being there for each other, particularly at Christmas time.

In this year’s story, there is panic at the North Pole on Christmas Eve as the reindeer all come down with the flu.

Unable to fly the sleigh, Santa has to come up with a plan to save Christmas.

With the help of An Garda Síochána, he enlists the help of the Garda Dog Unit and the Little Blue Heroes.

The story features six garda dogs and seven honorary gardaí from the Little Blue Heroes.

The book was funded and supported by Longford Public Participation Network and the Longford Community Safety Partnership, and is part of the wider Operation Blue Light Santa fundraising campaign, which was founded by Garda Emma Kiernan in 2021.

So far, Operation Blue Light Santa has raised more than €22,000 for charity.

All proceeds of this year’s book sales go towards the Little Blue Heroes Foundation and St Christopher’s Services.

Siobhán Cronogue, Longford PPN development officer, said: “Longford PPN are delighted to partner with An Garda Síochána on Operation Blue Light Santa for the third year in a row.

“This year, the aim is to raise awareness of the various disabilities many children and their families face and to raise funding for both charities, St Christopher’s Services and the Little Blue Heroes Foundation.”

Garda Emma Kiernan, founder of Operation Blue Light Santa, said: “The Blue Light Santa Team, our Little Blue Heroes and the Garda Dog Unit are looking forward to the launch of this year’s book – it is guaranteed to bring lots of smiles and joy to our readers as they follow the storyline.

“Thank you to Longford PPN and Longford Community Safety Partnership for your continuing support of this project and to our creative team, journalist Jessica Thompson and artist Pat Taaffe, who have done the most wonderful job producing another magical book.”

Jessica Thompson, author of the Blue Light Santa books, said that this year’s book was particularly fun to write. “We have featured seven of our amazing Little Blue Heroes and six of the good dogs at the Garda Dog Unit. I enjoyed getting creative with the story, while our illustrator, Pat, worked hard to produce beautiful likenesses of each of the children and the dogs.

“It was also a good opportunity to pay tribute to those heroes who have passed on. Cujo, our beautiful cover dog, and two of our Little Blue Heroes, Mighty Max and Luke, are all beautifully remembered in this story.

“We hope these pages will bring joy to their families and to the families of the other five heroes who featured: Zoe, Maddie, Rian, Kalvin and Tobias.

“In fact, we hope the message in this book will be well received by all children. Sometimes, when things go wrong and it seems like there’s no way out, simply picking up the phone and asking for help will change your whole perspective. Help is always out there – don’t ever be afraid to ask for it.”

Operation Blue Light Heroes will be available to purchase from December 2. A local launch takes place at 3pm on Saturday (December 2) at the Jolly Boys Christmas Market in Ballymahon. The book costs €10 per copy. Copies of the two previous books will also be on sale for €5 each.

For updates on where you can purchase your copy, or to order a copy by post, see @BlueLightSanta on Facebook, X or Instagram.