In Christmas spirit, Riggs Ambulance, Save Mart give presents to children

DOS PALOS -- A big ambulance trundled down a side street in this small Westside town Tuesday morning, headed for a tiny apartment.

Outside of the apartment, a 7-year-old girl waited. When she saw the ambulance, she started waving and smiling.

The Riggs ambulance that parked at the curb of the little girl's home wasn't there to pick up a sick patient. The ambulance, and the people inside it, were in Dos Palos to make some children's Christmases a little merrier.

The employees at Riggs Ambulance Service adopted 10 families this Christmas, and on Tuesday gifts were delivered via ambulance in Dos Palos, Merced and Atwater.

At the tiny apartment near downtown Dos Palos, Chyna Rain McDonald greeted everyone eagerly. The 7-year-old showed Riggs employees Sonya Severo and Nakia Garrett the decorations she had made, including a bright yellow paper star at the top of a small Christmas tree in the corner. Tim Rice, the manager of the Merced Save Mart store at Olive and G streets, carried gifts into the small apartment.

"Hey, Chyna, these are for you," Garrett said to the pony-tailed little girl.

"Mama, this is going to be the best Christmas ever," a beaming Chyna said to her mother, Chella McDonald.

Two families in Dos Palos were the recipients of gifts Tuesday. At Debbie Ward's home, her grandson, 5-year-old Quintin, was shy about his gifts. He hid his face in his sweatshirt after his grandma told him he couldn't open his gifts until Christmas.

But despite his shyness, Quintin gave the Riggs' employees a quiet "thank you" when prompted by his grandmother.

The 130 employees at Riggs usually adopt a family at Christmas, according to Severo, the community relations manager for the company. But because of the economy this year, Riggs' employees decided to adopt all the families that were nominated.

"There's an overabundance of people needing help this year," Severo said.

Garrett, who is both an emergency medical technician and a dispatcher at Riggs, said the employees always wanted to do more.

"We just needed to take that one step to actually do it," Garrett said.

Every family that Riggs helped this year got three gifts for each child in the family, along with a $100 gift certificate from Save Mart.

Rice said Save Mart matched funds from Riggs to give each family the gift cards.

"Save Mart is very community involved," Rice said. "We want to help as much as we can, especially in this economy."

At Chyna's apartment, Garrett and Severo both got hugs from the 7-year-old, who couldn't stop smiling.

"Chyna is the spirit of Christmas," Severo said. "She makes you appreciate what you have a lot more."

Reporter Carol Reiter can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com.