Santa Delivers Special Present for Son of Fallen Officer
— -- This weekend, the son of a fallen Philadelphia police officer got an incredible Christmas present straight from Santa Claus himself--with the help of a local fire department.
Sergeant Robert Wilson III was killed while responding to a robbery in March. He left behind wife Crystal Benson, 1-year-old son Robert IV, and two of Benson’s older children, Daesir, 9 and Destiny, 10. This is the family's first Christmas since losing Wilson. April Ziviello, a good Samaritan who "adopted" the family back in March, wanted to know how she could make things a little easier for them during this holiday season.
“I asked, ‘What’s Robbie’s “it” gift?’ and [Benson] showed me this Power Wheels truck,” Ziviello recalled.
Ziviello set up a GoFundMe page to go towards Robert’s gift before it caught the attention of the Wilson's local fire department, located in Collingdale, Penn.
Collingdale’s all-volunteer Fire Company #1 looped the family into their annual 'Christmas for the Community' drive, a time where they give out toys to needy families.
Dan Harold heads Collingdale Fire Company’s annual 'Christmas for the Community' drive, and told ABC News that the personal nature of Robert IV’s situation stirred him to soup up his Christmas truck a bit more. A local window-tinter donated custom decals for the truck that featured Wilson’s photo on the hood, his badge number, and his nickname for little Robert, Chubbs. Where the license plate would normally be is a thin, blue stripe emblematic of commemorating a fallen officer.
The community went all-out to deliver Robert IV’s truck and the rest of the presents for his family—the streets were lined with fire trucks, police cars and neighbors as Santa himself showed up to the Wilson residence to personally deliver Christmas presents to little Robert and his siblings.
Robert IV was shy at first--no doubt taken aback over all the attention--but now his mother says that she just can’t get him out of his new truck.
