Family Made Homeless By Apartment Fire Gets Surprise Visit From Santa
HIGHLAND PARK (CBSLA.com) — A Highland Park family made homeless by a fire got a surprise visit Thursday from Santa, who delivered plenty of toys and smiles.
Two days ago, the Vigil family dropped off letters for Saint Nick at a nearby fire station, where Santa will sometimes ride engine #12 and greet the community.
One of the letters Santa received was from 12-year-old Joseph Vigil, which read:
"Dear Santa,
My name is Joseph Vigil. I am 12 years old. This year we might not have Christmas this year because my mom got laid of [sic] a few weeks ago and told me thier [sic] will be no Christmas this year. All I want is for my little brother Nathan who is 7 and my lil sister Savanna who is 6 to have a nice Christmas this year."
Coincidentally, that station was called to the family's apartment the same night as a fire teared through their walls from a neighboring unit.
The Vigil family was left homeless for the holidays.
"The firefighters came back and took a look at these letters and realized that the return address on these letters happened to be the address where they had fought a fire, and it just pulled on their heartstrings," said Capt. Jaime Moore of L.A. City Fire.
Firefighters came to the family's rescue again Thursday. They arranged for Santa to visit their station, where the Vigil children were treated to bikes, a Kindle, Hello Kitty accessories and an X-box. The gifts were donated by the Toys For Needy Kids program.
"Two of the older children of the four children who are getting toys today never asked for a single thing for themselves," Moore said.
The children's mother, Nancy Paredes, said, "It feels good. I never imagined that bringing a letter to the fire station would turn out like this."
