‘Secret Santa’ brightens the holidays

Holiday cheer: Phoenixville Police and anonymous citizen join forces

Thanks to Phoenixville Police and an anonymous citizen, five area residents will be seeing a little more green this Christmas.

Police and a Phoenixville citizen who chose not to be identified, were able to spread some serious holiday cheer to those in need just days before Christmas. Officers spent the last week pulling over five lucky drivers only to surprise them with a crisp $100 bill.

“We’re looking for people that have a beat up car or a car that needs some work. We’re randomly picking them. We’re just sitting here waiting for the right car to go by. We look for cracked windshields, a dented up car or a lot of car seats. That’s the hardest part, to be able to pick the lucky person,” said acting Phoenixville Police Chief Thomas Sjostrom as he waited to choose the fifth driver.

The idea came from a resident who was born and raised in Phoenixville and had been inspired by similar events that took place in Missouri. After seeing a story about a man that hands out $100,000 each year and calls himself “Secret Santa,” the resident came to Phoenixville Police and asked to do a similar initiative on a smaller scale. He donated $500 to the police department to hand out to people they felt might need it this holiday season.

“Let’s make this awesome for everyone involved,” said the anonymous resident.

“Even though it’s of a much smaller scale, he wanted us to hand out $100 bills to five folks who could use it right before Christmas. I felt that it was an excellent mission and we went out over this past week to accomplish it,” Sjostrom explained.

Sjostrom added that in addition to spreading holiday

cheer, the gesture allowed them to show residents a different side of police work.

“The local citizen went to school here and grew up here. He liked the police and community relations part of the whole thing. It puts us in a positive light because over the past couple years, the view of police officers hasn’t exactly been positive,” he said.

The gesture was a nice break for officers who were elated watching the reactions of several drivers who were in shock and incredibly excited.

“The reactions were of course positive and extremely appreciated. I am glad we could be a part of it and my officers were excited too,” said Sjostrom.

Sjostrom said he had the privilege of handing out the very last $100 and the recipient was so grateful that she teared up and insisted on getting out of her car to give Sjostrom a hug.

Police said the five recipients were Dayna F., of Phoenixville; Terry P., of Pottstown; Brittany M., of Oaks; Crystal, of Phoenixville and Tangie R., of Phoenixville.

“The reactions were of course positive and extremely appreciated. I am glad we could be a part of it and my officers were excited too.” — Phoenixville Police Chief Thomas Sjostrom

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAYNA FIRTH Dayna Firth, right, was one of the lucky drivers to receive a $100 bill from Phoenixville Police courtesy of an anonymous citizen. Her daughter, Gianna, is holding the $100 bill while her son, Julian, poses in the background.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PHOENIXVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT Acting Chief of Phoenixville Police Thomas Sjostrom hands Tangie R., of Phoenixville, a $100 bill as part of the Secret Santa initiative made possible by an anonymous resident. Police pulled over five drivers they thought could use the money this...