MIAMI (WSVN) - Santa Claus is making Christmas for the little patients at Holtz Children’s Hospital extra special, as he surprised them with a parade complete with a marching band.
The parade took place at Jackson Memorial Hospital, at noon, Tuesday.
The South Florida Mortgage Bankers Association arranged the event to have Santa drop by to spread Christmas cheer to those who will spend the holiday bedridden in the hospital for treatment.
Santa arrived at the hospital on a City of Miami Fire Rescue Department truck to give candy canes to the children. He surprised the Holtz patients by being lifted on a telescopic hook-and-ladder towards the windows of their rooms and waved at them inside.
“A lot of these children aren’t able to actually leave their rooms, so in being able to see Santa come up like he’s coming with his reindeer through the windows is just completely … like there are no words,” Katerina Rodriguez, President of the South Florida chapter of the MBA, said.
The Trojan Band from Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School spread some extra Christmas joy by parading around the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center campus and entertaining visitors with performances of their favorite classic holiday tunes.
“We want to continue to do this for the kids here at Jackson,” volunteer Donald Rosenthal said.
The South Florida MBA has been organizing the annual Santa parade for the last 44 years and counting.
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