Santa Claus made a special visit to homes in River Grove with the help of the River Grove Fire Department and the St. Cyprian’s Men’s Club recently.
He was out in the village on Dec. 7 to pick up food donations that residents had promised to donate to River Grove and St. Cyprian Catholic Church’s food pantries. Santa Clause was able to get a ride to the homes in fire department’s fire truck. Along with picking up the donated food, Santa Clause posed for pictures and interacted with the youth at several homes.
River Grove Fire Chief Larry LaRiviere said they started going to different homes at around noon and they were well received.
“We did about 25 stops,” he said. “We’d pull up with the light and siren going and people came out into the street to meet us. It was fun.
The members of St. Cyprian’s Men’s Club and the fire department came together to put on the event in hopes of getting more donations. LaRiviere said the two coming together for the event worked out because when they did it by themselves, they usually made about eight stops in the village to collect food.
“We collected the food while Santa was taking pictures,” he said.
River Grove Deputy Fire Chief David “Dewey” Atkocaitis said they collected several large tables worth of food.
LaRiviere said it was a great partnership and looks forward to doing it again next year.
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“It was a fun thing for the kids and we had had a good time doing it,” he said.