WACO -
Waco Police Officers and volunteers pitched in to help save Christmas for a family targeted by a burglar on Christmas Eve.
The single mother returned home from work late Sunday night to find her home had been ransacked. Waco Police Officer Garen Bynum and his partner responded to the home early Monday morning.
"Her house had been gone through and all the little girl's Christmas presents that she was keeping were gone. Every one of them," said Officer Bynum.
They were the kinds of gifts any 7 year-old girl would put at the top of her Christmas wish-list.
"Everything was pink," said Bynum with a chuckle. "It was little Barbie things. She had a Furbie. There was an iPad with the iPad "Leap Frog" games and things like that."
Otherwise, the house was untouched, said Bynum. The burglar seemed to know what he was doing. Bynum, who has kids of his own, said he couldn't imagine how the mother felt.
"We knew we had to do something," said Bynum.
The young officer and his partner got in touch with Melissa Beseda, Director of Waco Police Victim Services. Beseda and a volunteer braved the Christmas Eve crowds at Walmart to do some last minute shopping.
"We got the little girl a ton of awesome stuff," said Beseda. "I think she ended up with 6 Barbie dolls. We got her some clothes, a Furbie doll, a bunch of Hello Kitty stuff and Crayola sets."
Several gift cards were also donated from the Blue Santa Program, a program created and funded by volunteers with the Waco Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association. The Blue Santa Program provides the funding to allow officers to buy gifts for families in need during the holidays.
By day's end, officers and volunteers had replaced everything on the little girl's Christmas list. However, on Christmas morning, Officer Bynum's partner noticed one thing was missing; a place to put all those brand new gifts.
"[He] took it upon himself to bring a Christmas tree from his own home, and he delivered it to her this morning," said Bynum.
Word about what the officers and volunteers did quickly spread on Facebook. A post on the Waco Police Department Neighborhood Services Detectives Facebook page was shared over a hundred times on Tuesday.
While dozens posted and shared their thoughts, perhaps no one was more touched than a mother and her young daughter on Christmas morning.
"[The mother] was in tears," said Officer Bynum "She was broken down and absolutely felt blessed."
