MADERA COUNTY — A family who was about to spend Christmas Eve with no gifts under the tree had their holiday wish list filled by two officers with big hearts.
At about 8 o’clock on Christmas Eve morning, Madera Sheriff’s deputy Josh Cushing responded to a residence located on Pickford Drive for a call for service.
Once at the location, Deputy Cushing discovered that four children, ranging in ages from 10 months to 11 years, along with their mother, were going to skip Christmas this year due to some unfortunate circumstances. Mom did not have any money, and the kids were not going to have any gifts for Christmas.
Deputy Cushing told his fellow deputy Richard Gutierrez about the situation and they set out to find some Christmas for the kids.
Deputy Gutierrez called the owners of the Madera Grocery Outlet, Michael and Mandy Lewis. He explained the kids’ unfortunate situation and Mandy started grabbing toys and blankets off the shelves in her store. She did not ask many questions, but did ask the deputies if they needed more, and then included a gift card for the mother of the kids.
Deputies Cushing and Gutierrez took the gifts to the kids and the gift card to the mother. Deputy Cushing also bought several gifts for each of the children with his own money.
What a blessing for these kids, who did not have a Christmas where they thought Santa forgot about them.
