Marlie and Lucy Case wrote a note on birthday party invitations asking guests to bring new or used toys to donate instead of gifts for them.
All these twin girls want for their sixth birthday are stuffed animals for kids going through a difficult time.
Marlie and Lucy Case of New Mexico attached a note on Hello Kitty invitations to their birthday party, explaining that instead of birthday presents, they wanted guests to bring new or used toys that they would donate to the Rio Rancho Police Department for distressed kids.
“We wanted to give it to kids to make them feel better,” Marlie told InsideEdition.com.
Thanks to partygoers, they collected more than 50 toys, and dropped them off with officers over the weekend.
The girls understood the power of the soft toy since they were calmed with stuffed animals by a police officer responding to the scene after they watched their mom get run over by a car.
“The day it happened, it made us very happy," Marlie said. "It helped me because it’s soft and I like stuffed animals."
Their mom, Savannah Case, recalled the freak accident happened as they were rushing to get errands done before Christmas.
"I forgot to put my vehicle into park and when I got out to get the girls and get their backpacks, it started to roll backwards," Case said. "The girls were behind my vehicle – I have a Ford Explorer. I jumped to try to get back into the driver’s side to stop the vehicle from rolling because the girls were behind it, and I couldn’t."
She panicked, and as she leaned down to push the brake pedal down with her hand, she was clipped by the open door and pulled underneath the car.
"It completely rolled over my left side, down my leg and basically dragged me underneath and ran me over," she explained. "My mom saw it all and was able to pull the girls out of the way."
As an ambulance and medics tended to Case, Officer Gabe Sanchez of the Rio Rancho Police Department noticed Marlie and Lucy looking distraught nearby.
"They seemed unsure what was happening, all they saw were firetrucks and a police officer," Sanchez told InsideEdition.com. "Being a parent myself and having a little girl, naturally I wanted to go over there and make sure they were okay."
What’s more, Sanchez said he and his partner, Officer Justin Garcia, both have a soft spot for twins. Sanchez is a twin himself, and Garcia is a father to twin girls.
Thinking on their feet, they made a quick stop at their car, and pulled out two stuffed animals to give to Marlie and Lucy.
"A good amount of officers keep them in their vehicles to comfort kids and stressful situations," Sanchez said. "My wife actually buys stuffed animals for me to keep in my car."
When Case heard about the good deed by the officers as she came out of surgery, she said her mind was put at ease.
"I just kept thinking, I could have run over my children and that car was going to back up over them and I was terrified," she said. "When I found out at the hospital that they received the stuffed animals and that they calmed down, that helped relieve some of the anxiety I had that night."
As a result of their encounter with the police officers, Marlie said she now wants to be a police officer when she grows up. Lucy wants to be a firefighter.
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