Their parents are in jail, so the sheriff’s office gave them some Christmas cheer

The Horry County Sheriff’s Office partnered with Ignite Church and threw a Christmas party for nearly 100 children who have parents that are currently inmates at J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

The party was held Monday night at the Carolina Forest Recreation Center, where children were given presents and even had the chance to see Santa.

“It was just so great to see the faces of these kids when they got these big bags of gifts,” said Chaplain Eddie Hill with the sheriff’s office. “It’s always worth it.”

Hill said this was the third year the event has been held, and that volunteers from the sheriff’s office, the detention center and churches came together to make the party possible.

There was face painting, balloon making, Christmas ornament decorating and also a bounce house for the children.

“We work hard to build relationships with churches and with people in the community to serve the needs of the community, and this time of year the coolest thing we do at the sheriff’s office is meet the needs of those children,” Hill said. “They are certainly a forgotten population of children, that’s for sure.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Their parents are in jail, so the sheriff’s office gave them some Christmas cheer."