GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas — The firefighters at Grand Prairie’s Station No. 3 tell the same story each Christmas.
It’s probably told by first responders everywhere.
“We tell the kids that Santa knows that firefighters, police officers, hospital workers, emergency workers, that they all have to work on Christmas Day so they’re priority stops,” Lt. Brandon Jones said. “Santa always knows to hit their houses first before going and making the rest of the rounds.”
Working on Christmas isn’t easy, but it also isn’t optional.
“I always told my mom we don’t make cookies for a living and she’d laugh at me, but it’s true,” Grand Prairie Police Lt. Pete Amaral said. “Everybody here understands and is fully prepared to work Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays — and whatever else may come.”
Volunteers with the Feed-a-Hero program delivered big boxes of pre-cooked meals to 6,000 North Texas police officers, firefighters, and 911 dispatchers, including Amaral, Jones and their respective teams.
“We’ve eaten many a cold meal. As soon as it hits the table we get called out,” Jones said. “So, it is nice to have something that we know is going to be there that is fresh and hot.”
Amaral said they feel support from the community every day, “but it certainly helps on days like today to know that people out there appreciate us and recognize us.”
Theresa Gibbons has volunteered with Feed-a-Hero for four years.
“To be able to give them a little piece of that home-cooked meal while they’re working, it’s priceless,” Gibbons said.
It’s just as priceless to deliver a meal to someone who is all alone.
“Hello, Miss Ida?” called out Charles Gamble, knocking on the front door of Ida Fields’ west Dallas home.
Gamble and a group of men from United We Stand Christian Fellowship volunteered with the Visiting Nurse Association's Meals on Wheels on Christmas Day morning.
They gave Fields a meal of turkey and dressing and a bag of wrapped gifts.
“Oh, gifts! Gifts! I’m sure they’re nice!” she said. "And I have food for the day. Oh, praise the Lord."
The men prayed with her before they left her home.
“You can see there’s no relatives, nobody else that’s here for her,” Gamble said. “It touches our hearts so deeply.”
Their next stop was Elsie Grayson’s home.
“It’s a blessing from the Lord and I sure thank Him,” she said as they handed her food and gifts.
It certainly seems the story firefighters tell is a true one.
Santa always delivers Christmas — wherever and whenever it’s needed.
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