HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - The Miramar Police Department is helping Santa spread holiday cheer to deserving children who are hospitalized.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but it can also be one of the hardest for those who are being treated at the hospital.
“The support that we have had from families and friends, everybody, overwhelmed. I have no words,” said Isabel Osorio, the mother of a hospitalized child.
With Christmas here, many patients at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, like 6-year-old Charlotte Osorio, will be spending the holiday away from family back home.
“She had pneumonia, but the pneumonia was really, really bad,” Osorio said.
It’s why the Miramar Police Department called in their top detective, known as Old Saint Nick.
“This is important stuff for me. We’ve been doing this for 10 years,” said Santa Claus. “This is what Christmas is all about right here.”
For a decade now, the Miramar Police Department has been pulling up to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood and walking the halls to bring Christmas joy to families who need it most.
They delivered all kinds of toys to children.
The tradition started after one of their own officers found himself in the same position as many of the families currently at the hospital.
“I had a daughter that was here at the hospital. Unfortunately, she was battling cancer and passed,” said Miramar Police Detective Carlos Villalona. “We experienced people doing this for us, and then an idea came about and the department supported us, and here we are 10 years later.”
Now they’re racing through the halls singing Christmas jingles and bringing that Christmas spirit with them to make sure every child can celebrate the holiday.
The Miramar Police Department has collected more than 2,500 toys and has donated them to five locations across South Florida.
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