TAMPA, Fla. — It is not very often that you see Santa Claus in June, let alone him arriving at a hospital in a Bearcat armored vehicle along with the FBI SWAT Team — but there is a good reason for his visit.
“In the middle of the year around June, July their toy closets are bare,” said Katie McCarey.
McCarey is a Guardian Ad Litem and spends most of her time in Tampa Bay area hospitals volunteering to love on and read to abused and abandoned babies in the NICU. She along with the FBI’s Tampa office and their Citizens Academy Alumni Association started gathering toys to bring joy to kids in the Tampa Bay area.
“So all these kiddos in the hospital that have been in there with different injuries, burns, cancer patients, abuse patients do not have any toys,” explained Katie.
Two-thousand toys in all were dropped off at Tampa General, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and Mary Lee’s House, which is a safe refuge for children who have been sexually abused. The kids were overjoyed as they watched and waved from their windows. It was Christmas in June for some kids who could use a miracle and a smile.
