PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Robina and Destiny, three-year-old twins, waited anxiously at the edge of their driveway.
After just minutes of waiting — which probably felt like hours — they heard and saw what they had been anticipating.
Riding in the back of a fire truck, Santa Claus showed up at their Lealman home with gifts.
“Merry, merry Christmas!” he said as the twins ran to him for warm hugs. “I brought you guys some presents!”
Santa and his team of elves delivered. He and a throng of firefighters and volunteers with the Lealman Fire District pulled toys and tricycles from the back of a moving truck and presented them to the jubilant three-year-old girls.
There were bright smiles and happy tears too.
“Just seeing them run to Santa was heaven,” said Cindy Burch, the twins’ grandmother, through tears. “Heaven.”
The Christmas Eve toy giveaway is an annual event and a passion project for the Lealman Fire District and Division Chief Jim Millican. For more than 20 years now, they have coordinated and dispersed donated toys and bikes to families in Lealman.
According to Millican, Lealman is one of the most poverty-stricken areas in Pinellas County.
“It brings a tear to my eye even 20 years later. It puts tears in your eyes when you see these little kids and how happy and grateful they are that Santa showed up and brought them Christmas this year,” the chief said.
The firefighters gave gifts to roughly 3,500 children, including the twins, thanks to hundreds of donations.
“This has been something very special to them,” said Burch, their grandmother. “So special.”
Burch said she and her daughter would have been grasping at straws without some help.
Luckily, Santa showed up — in the back of a fire truck.
“I thank everybody for this moment,” Burch said. “It was greatly appreciated.”
