LYNCHBURG, Va. – The holiday season is the perfect time to reflect on our blessings, and to seek out ways to make life better for those around us.
That’s the motto at the Lynchburg City Sheriff’s Office. They’re lending a hand when it’s needed most in more ways than one.
On Wednesday, Santa Claus traded out the sleigh for a cruiser and his helpers for Hill City deputies to bring an early Christmas surprise to a local family in need.
“Keep God first because without God, we don’t have anything. Make sure you walk everywhere with God and everything will be alright,” Ruben Barksdale says. “Someone is watching and maybe even about to lend a hand when you don’t even know it.”
Barksdale is raising four little ones all on his own--Mehki, Lacie, Jordyn and Gabby. He says they’ve had a tough go, but knowing he’s part of a community that has his back makes it a little easier.
“I had no idea. It really surprised me. It definitely teared me up and it warmed my heart. They were tears of joy and I haven’t had that in a long time,” he says. “We’ve had a couple of losses in the family the last couple weeks. Things were emotionally haywire. This just balanced the vibration back out.”
Deputies took turns unloading cars and dropping off presents for all. It’s the department’s first time getting in on the ‘Secret Santa’ game, but not the last.
“We were just so impressed with him and this family and these wonderful children,” Sheriff Donald Sloan says. ““We want to see them succeed in all they do, and that’s what we do. We serve our community here as the Lynchburg Sheriff’s Office, but we also care. That’s what we want our community to know.”
Barksdale says if this is the start, he can only imagine what it could lead to.