One anonymous resident helped Escondido cops spread a little holiday cheer over Christmas.
Police said an anonymous Escondido resident, a part of the Escondido Charitable Foundation, contacted the police prior to the holidays last year to give $10,000 to the department. The donor asked the officers to give out $100 to people they met along the course of their day that most needed the money.
The donor wanted to give the officers the means to spread the goodwill themselves, police said.
Over the course of several days, officers stopped people on the street, driving in cars and waiting at bus stops. Other officers remembered people they had encountered in the past that needed the goodwill.
In videos posted to the Escondido Police Department’s Facebook page, a police officer gives one woman – who he said in the video was a cancer survivor – the $100 bill and she stands there in disbelief before hugging a boy next to her and crying.
Police Chief Craig Carter said officers were able to make a bad situation better for at least 100 families, adding that it was rewarding for the officers to see the joy the goodwill brought to individuals and to feel as if they made a difference during the holiday season.
