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Residents of local assisted living facilities received visits to help share the joy of Christmas from Suffolk Sheriff E.C. Harris, his office staff and Santa Claus Dec. 1.

During their visit to Maryview Nursing Home, Concordia Assisted Living and Lake Prince Woods, Harris, his staff and Santa brought stuffed animals donated from Suffolk PetSmart.

Harris and his staff will also visit Autumn Care Nursing Home Dec. 7.

During his time at Concordia Assisted Living, Harris explained the office’s visits to the facilities.

“Every year since 2014 at Christmas time, we visit all of our assisted living facilities in Suffolk, which are four that we visit, and we bring Santa Claus,” Harris said. “We go room to room and pass out Christmas cheer and pass out gifts to the residents.”

The sheriff said the visits mean as much to him and his staff as it does for the residents.

“It does so much for us, for our hearts and brings joy to us, and we want to bring joy to other people too,” he said.

Harris also wants those in assisted living care to know how much he and his staff cares about them in their time of need.

“We want them to know that we care about them — the Suffolk Sheriff’s office staff cares about them,” he said. “We want them to get better in whatever situation that they’re in. We want their health to get better. But more importantly, we want to give them some Christmas cheer and some hope that they’ll get better and get back on their feet. And that’s our main goal.”

The Sheriff’s Office has also made donations to these local assisted living facilities as well as Suffolk Humane Society as well as Suffolk Animal Care Center.