The local Colorado State Patrol Dispatch Center has, for each of the last two years, adopted a family in need for Christmas and, collectively, donated gifts, decorations and meals.

This year is no different. The 11-member team at the dispatch center adopted a family made up of a single father with a disability and two young children.

“It’s special every year,” said Carlene Sanders, who organizes the effort each year. “But this one has stuck in my heart. I was super-excited, and the whole team was. This one had a lot of meaning behind it.”

Sanders said she sits with an organizer at Love INC to select a family every year, and the dispatch center makes it a special Christmas for that family.

“I call the family, get ages of children, likes, dislikes, allergies and a wish list from each one,” Sanders said. “Then I do the same with the parents, and everyone in the center always buys a gift for every single person in the family.”

On top of that, a Christmas tree and decorations and a Christmas feast are delivered throughout the month of December.

“Everyone looks forward to getting the family,” Sanders said. “We do a tree, decorations, stockings, all of it.”

This year a boy and a girl and their father are getting that special Christmas delivered by the members of the dispatch center.

“It’s a fantastic program, and we all look forward to it,” Sanders said. “It’s a great way to be giving.”