Annual Bob Telmosse Christmas Giveaway sets record Saturday for helping needy families

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The 41st year of an annual holiday event that provides food, gifts, bicycles and other items to underprivileged families was the best ever, organizers said Saturday.

2,400 children and 700 families benefitted from the Bob Telmosse' Christmas Giveaway at the Colorado Springs Event Center on Palmer Park Boulevard.

Organizers said that they distributed more than 900 bicycles and nearly 600 food bags.

The giveaway began at 9 a.m. and ended at 6 p.m.

Bob Telmosse', a local businessman, started the event in 1983 after someone paid for a newspaper ad that stated he was giving away free food; when people arrived at his furniture store on Union Boulevard and learned that the ad was a hoax, he told them to return the next day and provided free groceries for them.

Telmosse' died in 2006.