Santa Claus kicks off police toy drive
Santa Claus made an early appearance as he joined Brownsville police officers, as well as employees of IBC Bank and Walgreens for the kickoff of the annual Brownsville Police Department Christmas for Kids 2009.
The event took place Friday morning at the Walgreen’s parking lot on Ruben Torres Boulevard.
Dressed in a blue and white suit, and sporting a large white beard, Santa Claus spoke with police, posed for pictures and encouraged everyone to donate toys.
The toys will be used for the department’s Christmas toy giveaway on Dec. 19. They also will be donated to special organizations that ask for the police department’s support and, in addition, police officers will deliver them to needy families. The department expects to hand out more than 8,000 toys.
"This will be our 20
th year that we do the Brownsville Police Department toy giveaway," said police Chief Carlos Garcia. "Every year we are in need ... to come together to make a special Christmas for those of us who are less fortunate. As you buy toys for your children, why not take the time to buy toys for less fortunate children?"
The toys will be collected at all Walgreens and IBC Bank branches, as well as at the police department. Monetary donations are also welcome at the police department. "We want the public to come out and assist us by donating a new unwrapped toy for the toy giveaway," said Santa Claus. Community events like the toy drive help people change their perspective of police officers, which usually tends to be negative, said Tony Malish, Walgreens district supervisor. "When some kid thinks that Santa Claus is not coming, here come the police officers to save their Christmas," Malish said. This year, the police department is expecting even more children to be in need of toys because of the economic recession, said police spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique. "This has been a very hard year and we are expecting more kids to come out because of the economy," Manrrique said. "There is nothing like the face of those children, especially when they are not expecting gifts and the parents have had that talk with them and say it’s not going to be so good this year. Then when they see a bunch of police officers show up with presents, that is priceless."
