Sacred Heart, firefighters work to help families in need this holiday season

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- Sacred Heart is busy helping for the holidays, but they're not alone as South San Francisco's main fire station gathered toys for families in need.

South City firefighters and police picked up some last minute gifts at Target Tuesday morning to fill in the gaps for their big giveaway on Thursday to 800 local families.

"Seeing all the looks on our workers, our folk's face and all the people who volunteer, you can see how much this Christmas spirit gets shared," South San Francisco Fire Department Chief Jess Magallanes said.

In Mountain View, more firefighters are getting into the Christmas spirit. The firefighter's charity organization paid for and passed out 435 bags full of food, including turkeys as part of Second Harvest Food Bank's Brown Bag Program. "It allows them to have that special holiday meal with the turkey and all the fresh produce that they're getting today as well. It's really a great service for them too and we're really grateful to the Mountain View firefighters to be able to do this for the 10th year," Second Harvest Food Bank spokesperson Bernadette White said.

Sacred Heart Community Service has been doing their holiday food program since 1964. Over the next two days, 3,200 low-income families will receive a box filled with all the food needed for a special meal. "Grateful because I've only been working for two weeks after being off 10 months, there would've been no way I could've gotten my son anything," one woman said.

The big fun comes on Thursday when toy program will be held for kids at Sacred Heart Community Service.

Parents will get to come in to pick two toys and one book for their kids.