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Rotary Club helps 100 families on Christmas Eve

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The Rotary Club of West Palm Beach chose to give back on a day when many people are getting ready for their own Christmas celebrations.

On Christmas Eve, dozens of members of the club met up behind a local grocery store to fill their cars with gifts and groceries.

The items were delivered to one hundred families across West Palm Beach that couldn't afford to put gifts under the tree this Christmas.

"Just to make their holidays a lot more special when ordinarily it might not be so," says Glenn Siegel, a member of the Rotary Club.

"The hard part is that we have 100 families and there are so many more families that are in need during the holiday time. But we do what we can to give back as much as we can," Glenn says.

The group connects with deserving families through local charities and schools.

One of those chosen for gifts and food was 8-year old Fatima Soto-Domingo.

When she was asked by her school what she wanted for Christmas, Fatima didn't express the typical child's wish for toys.

"I asked for shoes and clothes and we asked for some beds too," she says.

Fatima goes to Belvedere Elementary. The school tipped the Rotary Club off about her family's needs.

"I feel so glad and I feel lucky," she says.

Over the course of the year, Glenn says the Rotary Club raises money for the event.

It took $11,000 to gather up enough food and gifts to donate to one hundred families.

"The best thing is just being able to give back to the families in need, just because there is so much need in the community," Glenn says.