Youngstown cops brighten Christmas for local kids in need

YOUNGSTOWN

When Hilda Rodriguez was told by city police officer Shawna-Cie Ott her children would be given gifts this Christmas, she thought it was a prank.

So when Ott showed up Wednesday at her East Side home on North Garland Avenue along with other members of the Community Police Unit and Santa, Rodriguez was in tears.

Her four children, however, could not stop smiling.

When asked what the gifts meant to her and her family, Rodriguez started to cry and could not speak for several minutes.

“I’m blessed,” she said. “I’m working. I’m paying the bills. But I don’t have enough for Christmas [gifts].”

The gifts were donated by residents when the CPU had its “Fill A Cruiser” event earlier this month, when residents were asked to drop off a new toy at a cruiser parked at St. Christine Church.

Ott said there were so many gifts that three cruisers were filled and officers had to make two trips back to the site to ferry gifts back to the CPU office at Mahoning and Eleanor avenue.

Read more about the project and the recipients in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.