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“That's what we want to create -- that special memory that will bring joy, even for just a moment,” he said.
With less than a week to go before a stream of vehicles bring what will become mountains of toys, board games and electronics to the Closter firehouse for delivery to terminally ill, ailing and needy youngsters and their families, the career law enforcer is working as hard as he did during the first drive in 1988.
“It has become a part of me,” as it has for hundreds of colleagues who’ve been collecting donated presents in their individual towns, Nicoletti said.
Same goes for the participating vendors and military personnel from the U.S. Army’s National Guard Armory in Teaneck who are participating in one of the largest and most popular missions of mercy in the Northeast.
Food vendors are still being sought for Wednesday, as are any area celebrities who “would love to join us, even if it’s just a half-hour of their time,” Nicoletti said, “just to mingle with the men and women and blue.”
Anyone who has been part of the units that deliver the gifts to children and their families never forgets the experience.
“Mommy, it’s what I always wanted!” a 4-year-old cancer patient at the children’s hospital shouted one year, holding a new video game to her chest.
Several members of the Santa Response Team (SRT) laughed, or smiled, while some looked down or away, holding tears at bay.
Near the end of another hospital visit, a young boy bolted from his room and dashed down the hallway, his smiling mom trailing behind. He caught up to “Santa” just as the elevator doors were opening.
Moments later, he returned to his room with more toys than he could hold.
“For me, it’s the best day of the year,” Closter Police Officer Vincent Aiello said. “It’s so great to see the kids’ faces.”
Nicoletti (above, right), a retired Closter police sergeant who’s now a school resource officer in Lodi, rallied a few colleagues in 1988 to help fill a little red pickup with toys to bring to children with cancer and other critical illnesses at Hackensack University Medical Center.
"We were just so proud to have filled that truck," he said with a smile.
This Wednesday, Nicoletti will need U.S. Army vehicles, police vans and hundreds of volunteers to help collect, sort, load and deliver gifts to several destinations, including local organizations and families dealing with tragedy, loss and need.
The volunteers come in all stripes and sizes, from dispatchers and special police officers to chiefs and captains, as well as family members and friends and other emergency responders.
“We’ve been blessed with a great group of men and women in blue, active and retired members,” Nicoletti said. “Every year they make the magic happen.”
The number of agencies has grown to an all-time high of 53 this year – “the kind of involvement makes it possible for us to reach out to that many more families and organizations,” he said.
“Our goal is to be able to relieve a little bit of the stress due to medical or financial hardship that a family may have,” Nicoletti said.
The families aren’t the only ones who come away happy.
“To create a special Christmas is so rewarding to all of us,” he said.
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YOU CAN STILL DONATE unwrapped presents. Check with the police department in your town.
Participating vendors:
- Rosie’s Empanadas
- Callahan’s
- Who Cut the Cheese
- Mr. Cupcakes
- Chef Bob
(Vendors were still being sought. Call: (201) 768-5000)
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