FOP brightens holiday season for Milton family

The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 2 helped make Christmas merry for two local families in Milton and Millsboro Dec. 14.

President Greg Fuller said the lodge has done an event like this for about nine years. At first, he said, the event was a dinner, but it evolved into selecting two families in the Cape Henlopen School District and Indian River School District that have experienced some kind of hardship or challenge ahead of Christmas.

For this year’s event, the families chosen were the Latta family of Milton and the Jimenez family of Millsboro. 

The Lattas were chosen after the family patriarch, Joseph Latta, was diagnosed with lymphoma in April and died in October. 

Joseph’s widow, Laura, said, “It's been an incredibly difficult year for our family. Joe always took the lead in creating the holiday cheer and magic at our house.”

For the Milton event, the lodge partnered with Milton Fire Department to load up a fire truck with gifts that would be given to the Latta children – Gus, Abe and Ike. Once the gifts were loaded, Santa himself boarded the truck and headed to the Lattas’ home in Cannery Village. The siren and the lights came on to announce the gifts were arriving. 

Laura said she thinks her late husband would have gotten a kick out of the show.

“The kids were shocked and beyond excited to see Santa, the fire department and all the gifts,” she said. “I kept hearing them say things like, ‘I can't believe this!’ and they were in disbelief that it was all for them. We are so incredibly grateful for their generosity, and it meant the world to see the kids so happy.”

Fuller said, “That’s what it's all about. To be able to bring joy at this time of the year, it’s really a good feeling.”