Columns

Tears are a job risk for these Santas

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published December 16, 2006

Hillsborough County sheriff's Deputy Diane Miller-Desiato paid a call a few years ago to a grandmother living in a barren trailer in Town 'N Country.

One couch, one table and one lamp occupied the room, yet the trailer was tidy and the floor sparkled.

"She wasn't a person of means, but she took pride in where she lived and the two grandkids she was raising," Miller-Desiato explained.

The deputy came armed with two bags of gifts, courtesy of the Sincerely, Santa program. Speaking through a tracheotomy tube, the grandmother said she was raising her grandkids because the parents died in an auto accident.

As is often the case, the grandmother began to cry as she explained she couldn't afford a lot, but did the best she could. Miller-Desiato, like so many of her fellow deputies, also began to cry.

"Things like that just killed you," Miller-Desiato said. "It softens the biggest, toughest guys' hearts when they go deliver because the people are in such need."

It tears them apart, but it also motivates them. Miller-Desiato, one of the program's coordinators, said in the case of the grandmother, they purchased a Christmas tree, supplies and food for a holiday meal.

Having delivered gifts since 1998, Miller-Desiato has no shortage of heartbreaking stories and heart-warming responses.

One year, a child wrote that he only wanted to move back to Kentucky and be with his grandfather before he died of cancer.

A church and other sponsors helped purchase bus tickets - the family had no car - so they could make the journey.

A young girl asked for an umbrella, which struck organizers as odd. So they investigated and discovered the family was homeless. The girl wanted the umbrella because when it rained, the family's car would get wet inside because they had to crack the windows for air.

Again, organizers connected the family with different agencies and found them a temporary residence.

Here's how the program works: Teachers recommend kids between kindergarten and third grade, and each student writes a letter. Some ask for extravagant gifts, while others ask for everyday items we take for granted.

Generous shoppers typically obtain letters from one of the Sincerely, Santa stations at Westfield Brandon and West Shore Plaza, but time is running out.

Shoppers can pick up letters and obtain the items today through Sunday, or they can make donations.

Donations also can be mailed to Sincerely, Santa, 10740 N 56th St., Suite 146, Tampa, FL 33617.

More than 11,000 children are expected to receive gifts from Sincerely, Santa this holiday season, and a variety of agencies come together to deliver the gifts: Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies; Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City police; city and county firefighters and Florida Highway Patrol troopers.

With so many gifts to distribute, the process already has started, and the tears have started to flow. But Miller-Desiato said the emotional upheavals never dissuade officers from participating.

"I guess it's because we're doing the right thing," she said.

That's all I'm saying.

Ernest Hooper can be reached at hooper@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 16, 2006, 01:05:31]