Two Florida police officers made a young girl’s holiday dream come true recently when they surprised her unsuspecting family with a Christmas tree and decorations that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford.
Officers Ward and Paramore of the Boynton Beach Police Department initially went to the family’s apartment after receiving a 911 call last Saturday.
As it turned out, the caller was a toddler who had accidentally dialed police, according to the Sun Sentinel newspaper.
The officers checked to make sure the family was OK, and in the process, spoke with the girl’s older sister who told them she was sad because the family couldn’t afford to buy a Christmas tree this year, a post on the department’s Facebook page stated.
“[The officers] just looked at each other and knew right then and there that they had to do something,” Boynton Beach police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater told the paper.
After visiting a local Home Depot, Ward and Paramore returned to the apartment the next day carrying a Christmas tree, stand, lights and ornaments — all bought with their own money — to surprise the struggling family.
As they came into the apartment, they were met by the young girl, who immediately broke into a wide smile upon realizing the tree was for the family.
“Thank you!” she exclaimed.
“You like that?” one of the officers asked.
The girl enthusiastically nodded before happily going over to the tree and giving it a big hug.
One of the officers wore a body camera and captured the girl’s joyous response on video.
That video, uploaded to the department’s Facebook page, has since gone viral. It has been liked more than 240,000 times, shared more than 115,000 teams, an amassed more than 8.8 million views as of Sunday night.
“We didn’t think it was going to go viral like this,” Slater told the Sun Sentinel. “We just saw it as an opportunity to show people, especially here in our area, that there are good police officers that come to work every day and do what they can to better the community.”
Members of the community have reached out to buy presents for the family, and Slater said Ward and Paramore plan to make a return visit to deliver the gifts before Christmas.