Albuquerque police save family's Christmas

Updated
Albuquerque Police Replace Family's Stolen Presents
Albuquerque Police Replace Family's Stolen Presents


A little girl's Christmas dreams were ruined by thieves, but it only took one kind gesture from an unlikely source to restore her holiday spirit.

A group of people whose jobs it is to protect the public and save lives truly saved Christmas for this little girl and her mother. One by one, eight officers made sure 9-year-old Melva Randolph and her mother Marie had a marry Christmas.

'It felt like nobody ever forgot about me, that somebody actually cared about me,' Melva said quietly.

A few days ago, Melva and her mom woke up to a Christmas nightmare: burglars had broken into their home. They took everything ... including all of Melva's wrapped presents.

'I felt like they just wanted to take 'em. They don't really care. It was like, 'what did my daughter do?' My daughter didn't do anything.'

That terrible story broke some local officers' hearts, so with money out of their own pockets, they bought presents.

When the incredible surprise happened, Marie was in disbelief. 'I got the whole police force in here and I think I'm on TV!' Marie said when she called her mother, who is in hospice.

As her way of saying thanks, Melva insisted that the officers take the gingerbread house she built.

Advertisement