Christmas comes early for Livingston children in annual event

About 500 Livingston children left City Hall on Thursday afternoon with stacks of Christmas presents in their arms – and some even rode their shiny new bicycles out the door.

Families lined up for photos with Santa before receiving their gifts and posing for more photos with police officers, many of whom were wearing reindeer antlers, in the annual Kops for Kids event.

Abigail Martinez, 17, and her siblings joined her 7-year-old sister Lizbeth for the event. Lizbeth is the youngest in the family, and the last to enjoy the holiday giveaway.

“It’s special for us as the older brothers and sisters because we want to give her the privilege of coming along and the experience we had,” Martinez said. “It’s been an awesome event for our family. The community of Livingston has done so much for us.”

Martinez said the event encouraged her to give back to her community, and now she’s an explorer with the Livingston Police Department.

For 6-year-old Luis Rios, the giveaway fulfilled his Christmas wish. He rode out of City Hall on his new red bicycle, which came with a helmet.

“He’s been wanting a bike since last year,” his older sister, Daisy Esquivel, 17, said.

Foster Farms and Dallas Distributing Co. donated about $10,000 for the event, and, as always, Kalem’s Giving Tree donated bikes.

Livingston’s Kalem Millard, 20, was killed on Dec. 13, 2004, during an ATV accident. After the crash, Kalem’s organs were donated, and one of the beneficiaries, then-19-year-old Jake MacKinnon of Petaluma, who has diabetes, received Kalem’s pancreas.

Together, the families raise money to purchase the bicycles through the organization Kalem’s Giving Tree.

The event, which has been going for more than 20 years, is also a way for the police officers to have positive interactions with the community, police Chief Ruben Chavez said.

“It’s a good time for everyone to celebrate this time of year,” he said.

This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Christmas comes early for Livingston children in annual event."