Used car dealer delivers Christmas gifts to Roll Hill kids

CINCINNATI - In case you didn't know, not all of Santa's elves take the sleigh.

Some of them take a full-sized pickup with a red snow plow decorated with a giant ribbon.

But these particular elves, staff members of Metro Used Cars in Bridgetown, are no less adept at delivering Christmas joy.

Their truck, brimming with gifts, arrived at the Villages of Roll Hill, a low-income apartment complex in Cincinnati, formerly known as the Fay Apartments, on Monday.

The elves blew their horn, calling for the children to come out. Doors opened and kids appeared, not sure what was happening.

Some brought their parents, some didn't. Some were ready for the cold, wet weather, and others, not so much.

And to each one, a gift.

"Oh, look babe," said Robin Standifer as she received brightly wrapped presents for her three children. "Say thank you."

For her, Metro's annual pilgrimage is a godsend.

"This is so sweet," she said. "This is so nice. My kids love it. They'll be happy when they open their gifts."
    
That's all the reward the organizers are looking for.

"This is my Christmas," said Teresa Jentzen, who was dressed in green elf tights with those pointy shoes.
    
This year the spreading of cheer felt all the more imperative to Metro Used Cars' Charlton Ousley.

"The ones in Newtown, Conn., [we] feel sorry for those," he said. "The ones that got hit by [superstorm] Sandy, lost their homes and everything else... everybody's just trying to come together. We want to do the same thing in our community as well. We didn't get hit by a tragedy as bad as that, but the economy is just as hard."

Adding a one-two punch to any down spirits, Olympic boxers Rau'shee Warren and Jamel Herring showed up with autographed boxing gloves.

"I'm here in my hometown, Cincinnati, and I'm here to support the kids," said Warren. "It makes you realize you did something good."

"It's a great honor," addeid Herring.

"It's not one person, it's everybody," Ousley said. "Gather up their thoughts and their beliefs, and we work real hard together to give back."