Santa Claus Helps NYPD Officers Hand Out Toys To Kids In East Village

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Christmas came a week early in the East Village as Santa Claus visited the Ninth Precinct to hand out toys to neighborhood kids.

Families waited outside the precinct all morning, and only one man could draw that kind of crowd in the snow, rain and slush, CBs2's Ali Bauman reported.

"Just to wait for Santa to come and give us gifts," one girl said.

It's a community tradition that dates back decades. Jaime Carcana told Bauman she's been going for most of her life.

"Since I've been two, three years old, and I'm 38 now," she said.

Now, it's her daughter Cheyenne's turn. She didn't quite know what to ask for, but her mother remembered what she asked for when she was that age.

"Barbie," she said. "Barbie years ago to me was everything."

The excitement for Santa truly spans generations. Once Saint Nick took his throne, those hours in line finally paid off.

Of course, everyone was there for the magic of Santa, but the real magic happened behind the scenes where volunteers sorted through thousands of toys.

"We have so may toys, like literately thousands," Carol Puttre, of the Ninth Precinct Community Council, said. "We're bringing them inside and organizing them according to age group."

There were so many donated toys, most kids took home three.

"We have toys for every single age, whether you're two years old all the way up to teenage," Ninth Precinct Commanding Officer Vincent Greany said.

Cheyenne brought home a Barbie -- like mother, like daughter.