CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md. — It was a not so silent night, as joy and jubilation replaced apprehension and anxiety for a family of five. A mother and her children were no longer living out of their truck in the shadow of the nation’s capital, a merry Christmas now set in their sights.
The Maryland-National Capital Park Police once again played the role of Santa, an annual tradition where officers pooled donations and adopted a family in need.
Except for this year, the gifts galore went beyond the typical bikes and clothes from Christmases of yore.
The officers found a new home for the Green family, who otherwise would have spent Christmas night shivering in a cramped vehicle somewhere in Prince George’s County.
"I had no idea, I can’t breathe, this is too much!" mother Erica Green said in an interview Monday. “I just don’t know where all of these people came from to help us."
Green’s son, Mason, was nominated by his teachers for the Secret Santa surprise.
“Resilient shouldn't be a word that comes to mind when you describe an 8-year-old little boy," Martha S. Kristy, principal of the Maya Angelou French Immersion IB World School wrote. "This isn’t a typical request for your help. This is a plea for the welfare of a family that is in desperate need of intervention."
Kristy wrote to the Park Police that Mason and his siblings needed a stable place to live, lest risk failure in the rigorous and prestigious French public school immersion program.
The officers, county leaders and local law enforcement managed to garner enough donations to move the Greens into an extended-stay hotel through January. The family’s paperwork for public affordable housing is then expected to be processed, giving the Greens a permanent place to live.
“I’ve never seen so many gifts in my life,” Mason said, gazing out at a sidewalk covered with presents from the police officers. “But a place to call home is truly the best Christmas ever.”
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