Santa Claus made his stop early in Aberdeen on Thursday

ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) – Santa Claus made his stop early in Aberdeen.

Aberdeen native and founder of Holliday Helping Hands Katina Holliday-Wiseman flew Santa’s Sleigh in from California to bring smiles to her hometown.

The husband and wife Duo started this trend of helping others in 2020. And executive director Rori Eddi Hebison said she is happy to witness the joy of giving.

“The principle and tenet, philosophy of giving back that is the core of what this company this foundation is set on, ” Hebison said.

Cars lined up along Highway 45 filled with parents wanting to help grant their children’s holiday wishes.

“This is so much about the magic of Christmas. I mean, who doesn’t remember their favorite toy, so to have that ability to watch a young boy or young girl come in and their eyes just the awe and wonderment of seeing and having the ability to pick it out and to know that for that moment someone thought that they are worthy, someone showed love, someone showed care,” Hebison said.

Katina and her husband and Holliday Helping Hands Co-founder, Chuck Wiseman started this giveaway as a way to give back to those who lost their jobs or were just down on their luck due to the 2020 pandemic and they both said that this vision is possible thanks to Santa’s helpers.

“It takes a team to make a dream; it definitely takes a team and all the wonderful people we have working out here to invest their time to make sure we are doing what we want to do here in Mississippi,” Chuck Wiseman said.

And while donations from companies like Home Depot and also personal funds were needed to achieve this Santa’s workshop CEO Katina Holliday said it all started with love.

“I just have a love for my community. This is where I grew up it is my hometown and like he just said it’s a hometown charm and because I was raised here in Aberdeen we have decided to come back and grow the community. We are currently building a grocery store; we just opened an urgent care. We want to bring jobs; we also want to be able to provide something for the kids to see that it is something bigger and not only by seeing me giving back one day they will be able to give back,” Katina Holliday-Wiseman said.

Santa, along with Holliday Helping Hands, is on the move and will be giving out more toys in Northport, Alabama on Friday.

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