Secret Santa Enlists Coral Gables Police to Spread Joy

CORAL GABLES, FL — In a city known for its Miracle Mile, it should come as no surprise that it also has a secret Santa who emerges each year around the holidays to make an unusually large donation to the police department with just two conditions — that no one can know his name and that the money be gifted to people down on their luck.

This year the anonymous benefactor donated $30,000, an amount so large that Coral Gables police also enlisted the help of neighboring police departments to distribute $100 American Express gift cards to people who could also use a little holiday cheer in Miami, South Miami, West Miami and North Miami.

“We get more than what we can hand out,” Officer Kelly Denham of the Coral Gables Police Department acknowledged to Patch. This is the third straight holiday season that the Secret Santa has called upon city police to spread his generous cheer.

“The whole purpose is to help people this time of year," she said.

In this case, the secret Santa's 2016 donation bought 300 gift cards.

Every officer in the department can request a gift card by calling their supervisor when they come across a suitable candidate. The determination is solely up to them.

Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak also donned a Santa suit on Thursday and personally joined his officers in distributing gift cards.

“Last year there were two women in a van and they had six kids,” Denham recalled. “You could obviously see they were down on their luck. So we gave them each a card.”

Usually, it’s not that hard for officers to tell who needs help.

“If somebody is driving a Mercedes, they probably don’t need a gift card,” she said. “You don’t have to be a police officer to know when people are down on their luck and that they could use a little extra cash to help them out this time of year.”

The officers go about their regular assignments at the same time they look for people who could use a gift card.

“We still do our job, but we like doing it and being the good guy once in awhile,” Denham explained. “This secret Santa has allowed us to come across and help people who really need it.”

The secret Santa’s identify is such a secret that not even Denham knows his identity.

“I have no idea. The chief might know,” Denham conceded. “He wants to remain anonymous. He is very adamant. When we pick up the cards it is done secretly. It’s not about him. It’s about the police officers being able to spread joy.”

Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak hands out gift cards in his Santa suit on Thursday. Photo by Coral Gables Police Department.