POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - First responders and volunteers in Pompano Beach delivered smiles and spread holiday cheer as they played Santa in the city’s annual tradition of giving away gifts on Christmas Day.
For more than two decades, the Benevolent Association Christmas Express, hosted by the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, has been delivering gifts to families and children who may otherwise not receive any during the holiday season.
At Fire Station 63 on Thursday morning, volunteers and first responders told 7News that there were three U-Haul truck full of toys and that more were on the way.
Every year, these first responders and community volunteers take time out of their own Christmas, away from their families, to give back and put a smile on the faces of so many.
They loaded up a few trucks and traveled to several neighborhoods around Pompano Beach, all with the goal of spreading joy and being there for the community when they need it most.
Kori Christmas and Kathy Oliva are among the event’s organizers.
“Something that looks like a simple toy to us means so much to that family,” Oliva told 7News at a previous gift giveaway. “And where I find my joy is in the faces of the moms, the dads and the grandparents who have tears pouring down their faces because we’re able to help supplement them for Christmas, to be able to put the smiles on those kids’ faces.”
Christmas, who works for the Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, said the event has expanded over the years.
“It was originally ran with a teacher, actually handing out teddy bears out of the back of her truck, and the local police department and fire department heard about it and has taken it over since,” she told 7News at this year’s giveaway. “We used to be in small little U-hauls with boys and girls on one truck, and now we’ve built it over to three [trucks], with an overflow truck, which is amazing. We’re so thankful to be able to do this and, you know, support the community. As a firefighter, I serve the community working, but now also on my off time, and it’s just like an amazing thing to be able to do.”
Oliva, meanwhile, detailed plans for this year’s event.
“It’s going to be an amazing day. We have nine stops today, and we’re going to go all through the community. We go led by the fire truck, the ambulance and then the three toy trucks, followed by the sprinter with the bikes, and then we actually have one other truck with big things in it, too,” she said. “At each stop we pull up, and it’s amazing. It’s amazing to see the kids in the line. It’s amazing to see their smiles. It’s amazing to see their mothers, their grandmothers, their parents just so blessed with sometimes tears pouring down their eyes. And it’s neat to see how one toy puts a smile on a child’s face, and it warms my heart to do it.”
The volunteers and first responders drove the trucks full of toys to nine different locations around Pompano Beach. Hundreds of children lined up at each stop.
D. Hicks brought her nephew for the gifts.
“Just to see him excited to get up out the bed and to come over here, it means everything to see him happy,” Hicks said.
Her nephew got a Nerf gun.
Oliva explained how the event is not just for the community, but supported by the community.
“Kori and I get started quite early in the year. Actually, I’ll be shopping starting next month again, but we are so so blessed by businesses that are around here in Pompano, and some not in Pompano,” she said. “People that just start seeing what we’re doing and start sending us the either toys or donations, and we shop, and we shop, and we shop to fill up these trucks. It takes a lot, and we are so, so blessed by all of our vendors that come out and support us.”
The toy deliveries started at 8:30 a.m. Volunteers spent about half an hour at each stop.
Jennifer, one of the volunteers, told 7News that this is not the first time she and her daughter have participated in the event.
“I have an 18-year-old daughter, and we were invited to be a part of this three years ago, and it’s just such an honor to be able to see her, be able to give back, and just show love and community. So we really love doing this,” she said.
Another volunteer said that he and his mother have been helping with this event for almost as long as it’s been around.
“Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing. Me and my mom, we’ve been doing this for 20 years now,” he said. “It’s just – we want to just bring happiness and joy and just show that the community that we can just all get together and just spread joy for all the kids. It’s just – it’s so beautiful, absolutely.”
Later in the morning, Oliva caught 7News up with how the event was going now that it was fully underway.
“Now that the word is getting out, we’re getting longer lines and everything like that. Our toys, our trucks are still very, very full. We still have an overflow truck. We’re just expecting all the same,” she said. “We’re expecting more kids, more smiles, more happy faces and sometimes some joyous tears, and we are fully blessed to be able to do this.”
One mother, Brittany Pullam, brought her daughter to the gift giveaway.
“It’s very sentimental,” she said. “You have some families who’s not able. So, it’s tough times. Times are tough right now, and these guys come every year and we appreciate everything they do.”
Pullam’s daughter walked away with a Barbie doll.
Christmas said things were going well as the volunteers worked on their third gift-giving stop.
“It’s going really great, actually. We’ve already gone over a couple hundred kids now, and it’s only the third stop,” she said. “So we’ve got a couple more to go, and I’m hoping that there’s more and more kids, a lot of smiles on faces and a lot of people happy to see Santa Claus.”
Christmas said this event is not only important to the community, but for her as well.
“I mean, it’s a big deal, honestly, to me. You know, I spend most of my holiday season doing this and planning and stressing out, and then being able to be here on Christmas Day and actually seeing the smiles on people’s faces and just the appreciation by the community is just like such a good feeling,” Corey said.
Christmas said that the event has been going on for over 25 years, and she hopes it can continue for many years to come. She said, “I just hope to spread joy and happiness and just, you know, that we’re a community and that community helps community.”
Organizers told 7News that as soon as they handed out the last toy, they would immediately start planning for next year.
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