DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit non-profit brought some holiday cheer and presents to families who are struggling during the holiday season.
It's a chance for thousands of volunteers to get together about help out families in need.
Local non-profit, Jimmy's Kids, has been delivering holiday joy and cheer to disadvantaged families across Detroit for more than three decades.
"Jimmy's Kids started with 22 kids, now we serve over 20,000," said founder Jimmy Tuman.
But this special holiday tradition almost didn't happen. Jimmy's Kids was forced to incinerate more than 6,000 pounds of toys that became contaminated due to construction in three rented storage lockers that housed most of the toys.
"We work all year on this," said Tuman. "We first got started the day after Thanksgiving to give you an idea, and we had to pull this off in three weeks."
The call for help was answered by thousands of people not only locally but from around the world, all wanting to help out.
"We saw something at the Temple Israel Messenger, there was a volunteer opportunity, we decided to do it," said the Landau Family. "It's been a wonderful morning, lots of happy families."
Nearly 2,000 volunteers worked tirelessly around the clock making sure they had plenty of gifts, and when everything was assembled and ready, volunteers hit the streets to deliver the gifts to children and families until all the gifts were gone.
"We drive this 26-foot semi down, it's filled and people come out and they deliver to families who don't know we're coming," said Tuman. "And it's a surprise, and it's what Christmas is really about."
Jimmy says the holiday is about bringing joy to everyone and putting a smile on children's faces.
"We feel special to be able to help these families where the median income is very meager, but they're great people," said Tuman. "It's a great community, and I certainly love it very much."
Jimmy says the best part about delivering the gifts is seeing the bright smiles on people's faces.
He says they'll be getting back to work right away preparing for next year.
