Lt. Aydil Jackson, dressed as Mrs. Claus, inspects the set up at the Orange Police Department’s annual toy giveaway
ORANGE — The second floor of the Freddie Polhill Law & Justice Complex was transformed last week as Santa Claus paid a visit and was met by hundreds of happy children.
The Orange Police Department has been holding a toy giveaway in conjunction with the Toys for Tots program run by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve since 2016, according to Police Chief Brian Mooney.
“Our officers and superior officers get more and more motivated to provide the best experience,” Mooney said. “Everybody in the building has a lot of pride in making this go smoothly.”
The second floor atrium of the Law & Justice Complex hosted the event, which included Santa on a big chair, Mrs. Claus and numerous officers in holiday costumes.
Lt. Aydil Jackson, dressed as Mrs. Claus, said creating the winter wonderland began the previous day after court, which is located in the building, had finished.
“We all get dressed up,” Jackson said. “It’s nice for the community to see us in a different light.”
All of the police officers involved volunteered their time also donating hot chocolate and treats through their unions, while the toys came from the Toys for Tots program.
Toys were sectioned off by age and gender and children got to pick what they wanted.
The annual event began in 2016 and has grown since then. About 500 children showed up on Wednesday, Dec. 17 for the event, lining up outside before the doors opened at 4 p.m.
At the various stations around the room, uniformed officers stood with officers dressed in Christmas costumes.
“It bridges the gap,” Jackson said of having a uniformed officer with an officer dressed in a cute, friendly costume. The idea being that it makes police more approachable both at the event but in case of an emergency at some future time.
Many of the officers are bilingual – in either Spanish for the Hispanic residents or French/Creole for those of Haitian descent – and they were on hand for the event.
“Most of our bilingual officers are on deck,” Jackson said.
In addition to giving credit to the city’s Department of Public Works employees who also pitched in, Mooney gave credit to the Marines and the Orange High School students enrolled in the Navy JRROTC program who helped out.
Andrew Ehrenfeld, a retired Marine Corps major, led the group.
“It’s important because community service and civic engagement is one of the pillars of JRROTC,” Ehrenfeld said “Anytime the cadets can give back to the community it strengthens their appreciation for being an engaged member of the community.”
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