{"id":47258,"date":"2013-12-24T16:03:40","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T00:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=47258"},"modified":"2013-12-24T16:38:34","modified_gmt":"2013-12-25T00:38:34","slug":"lancaster-deputies-spread-christmas-cheer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/12\/24\/lancaster-deputies-spread-christmas-cheer\/","title":{"rendered":"Lancaster deputies spread Christmas cheer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(L<\/a>
(L to R) Amira Jackson, Amari Black, Devonte Smith and deputy Miguel Ruiz. Ruiz hand-delivered presents to the children Tuesday (Dec. 24). The gifts came from the Lancaster Sheriff Station’s annual Holiday Food and Toy Drive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 Amira Jackson,\u00a0Amari Black and\u00a0Devonte Smith were all smiles Tuesday afternoon, when a Lancaster sheriff\u2019s deputy showed up with gifts just in time for Christmas.<\/p>\n

The youngsters were three of six children in the Sienna Heights apartment who received toys from the Lancaster Sheriff\u2019s Station, according to Community Relations deputy Miguel Ruiz.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re trying to help out families who are in desperate need during this time of year,\u201d Ruiz said.<\/p>\n

This holiday season, the Lancaster Sheriff\u2019s Station collected more than 600 toys and 441 food items as part of its annual Holiday Food and Toy Drive, Ruiz said. The donations came from sheriff\u2019s deputies and personnel at the station, as well as city staff and residents, Ruiz added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had donation points at City Hall, at Lancaster Station, and we had a toy drive on The BLVD at BeX,\u201d Ruiz said. \u201cMost of the toys were distributed amongst different charitable organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ruiz<\/a>
Ruiz checks his stack of presents before heading to Lake Los Angeles to hand deliver gifts to another family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ruiz hand-delivered presents on Monday to children in the pediatric ward at Antelope Valley Hospital and to children at the Valley Oasis Domestic Violence Shelter. On Tuesday, Ruiz personally delivered gifts to two households in Lancaster and Lake Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel pretty fortunate just to see the smiles on the kids\u2019 faces and bring them some happiness for the holiday season,\u201d Ruiz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is like a big surprise, a beautiful blessing!\u201d said Valentina Rowe, when deputy Ruiz stopped by her Sienna Heights apartment. \u201cWe didn’t have that much for Christmas, so it\u2019s always good to be able to give the kids something to smile about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lancaster sheriff\u2019s deputies will continue to spread cheer through Christmas Day, Ruiz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, deputies out on patrol are going to have toys,\u201d Ruiz said. \u201cWhen they respond to a situation where children are involved, maybe a family member was arrested or some other traumatic situation, the deputies will hand out toys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to wish everybody a happy and safe holiday season,\u201d Ruiz added.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 Amira Jackson,\u00a0Amari Black and\u00a0Devonte Smith were all smiles Tuesday afternoon, when a Lancaster sheriff\u2019s deputy showed up with gifts just in time for Christmas. The youngsters were three of six children in the Sienna Heights apartment who received toys from the Lancaster Sheriff\u2019s Station, according to Community Relations deputy Miguel Ruiz. “We\u2019re trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}