Sheriff’s Department members and volunteers from the Civilian Advisory Committee and local churches joined together as one well-oiled machine to stuff 2,500 holiday gift bags with goodies and sundries, on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The holiday packages were then delivered to spread joy and good will during this holiday season to women incarcerated at Century Regional Detention Facility and Twin Towers Correctional Facility on Thursday, December 17, 2015.

This annual event began back in Dec. 2013, when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department personnel, in partnership with the Action Committee for Women in Prison Project, presented over 2,000 holiday gift bags to women incarcerated in the Century Regional Detention Facility.

The holiday gift bags contained personal-sized servings of coffee, tea and candy, travel-size soap, shampoo kits, lotion, and hair care items, note paper with envelopes and Christmas cards.

This year’s event went forward with our motto in mind, “A Tradition of Service.” At 8 a.m. Sheriff’s Department employees and community volunteers gathered at the Sherman Block Building in Monterey Park ready to get busy. They worked a four hour circuit to prepare 2,500 gift bags for female inmates to receive this holiday season.

The assemblers were joined with Assistant Sheriff Terri McDonald, Captain Diana Holloway, Unit Commander of Century Regional Detention Facility, Sheriff’s personnel from the Civilian Training Unit, Inmate Reception Center-Document Control Records, and the Maximizing Education Reaching Individual Transformation Program Continuum; and members from various Los Angeles County-based groups and organizations, including the Civilian Advisory Committee and the Agape International Spiritual Center. Gloria Killian, ACWIP Director, also attended the event and worked on the assembly line. Everyone involved in this annual event was excited and ready to work and get all of the gift bags filled in the few hours available to get it done.

“These acts of selflessness can be found throughout the Sheriff’s Department every day,” said Assistant Sheriff McDonald.

“It is especially difficult to be confined during the holidays, away from family and friends, and the recipients really value these small gifts and are grateful that the Sheriff’s department and our community partners bestow a ray of hope and happiness during the holiday season,” she added.

Items included in this year’s gift bags were donated by Target Corporation, Prudent Publishing, American Hotel Register Company, Agape International Spiritual Center, Sheriff’s Department employees and private citizens. Thousands of gift bags filled with food and sundry items were valued at approximately $10,000.