Cops save Christmas for Colorado Springs family
Just like millions of other children around the world, 11-year-old Christopher Wood is playing his new video games on Christmas.
But unlike those millions of other kids, Christopher didn’t wake up to presents under the tree.
“We were talking about it last night and I was quite upset,” said Sharron Wood.
Sharron, and her husband Brian, are full-time students. She said after the essentials, there just wasn’t anything left over for gifts.
On her Facebook Christmas Eve, Sharron shared sadness over a meager Christmas for Christopher.
“Tears on Christmas morning…” the post began. There was also a picture of a bare Christmas tree.
“Knowing I didn’t have any money to buy anything for him, it put me kind of in a funk mood. I really didn’t want to do anything on the Christmas tree,” Wood said.
Her older daughter saw the Facebook post, and early Christmas morning made a call for help to an agency that helps every day of the year.
“We had a call here at the police operations center that there was a child who didn’t have any Christmas presents,” said Officer Barry Rizk.
“It’s a call that we’d rather have than some of the other calls we have to deal with on a regular basis,” said Officer Bob Eberhardt.
Fortunately, sitting in the lobby were boxes full of donations for kids…that included a brand new Nintendo Wii and games, which officers knew would be perfect for an 11-year-old boy.
But since the gift wasn’t wrapped, officers had to get creative. They stripped the donation boxes of wrapping paper to wrap up the gifts.
Because the Wood family lives outside of Colorado Springs city limits, officers called for backup from the El Paso County Sheriff’s office.
“Mutual aid,” Rizk said.
Arms full of presents, officers knocked on the door.
“Usually when they’re knocking on your door, it’s a bad thing,” Sharron Wood said.
“I was surprised because they were holding a bunch of presents,” Christopher said.
“This is where we get the opportunity to knock on a door and we bring happiness, not hardship,” Eberhardt said.
Christopher had his Christmas.
Every day, people dial 9-1-1 for help, but this service was different. It came from a place beneath the badge. The heart.
