Palm Beach County Commissioner Helps The Needy During the Holidays

A Palm Beach commissioner helped treat some of the county's neediest people to a holiday shopping trip at Walmart.

Commissioner Jess Santamaria contributed to the 100 gift cards given out in December, The Palm Beach Post reported. Santamaria personally contributed one-third of the $15,000 from his own bank account and the balance was given by a nonprofit organization he created.

The families were chosen by the sheriff's office and community leaders to receive $150 gift cards to Walmart.

"When I have a little, I give a little," Santamaria told the newspaper. "When I have more, I give more. Now that I have more than most people, I am willing to share it."

He also added that his donations have nothing to do with political post and everything to do with the tragedies of war he lived through as a child in the Philippines. He lived through the Battle of Manila, and there were times when he and his widowed mother and five siblings had no food or water.

"And in the days after the war, I experienced poverty as well. I know what some families in Belle Glade go through," Santamaria said.