Probation officers, working with a parenting program, aimed to make a merrier Christmas for their probationers and their families by providing gifts, activities and a lunch.
A Christian pastor also read the Nativity story to the eight families who attended the third annual Christmas luncheon at Enterprise Secondary School.
Fifteen probationers were set to attend the lunch, but many had conflicting schedules, said Stephanie Stoeckel, the deputy chief of the Madera County Probation Department.
The department worked with the Proud Parenting Program to put on the luncheon. A Proud Parenting grant funded the Monday event, but probation staff bought the gifts for 35 children, said Stoeckel...