Christmas came early this year for a number of Long Island families.

Santa's helpers traded in the snow runners for four wheels.

This year over 500 volunteers donned in festive attire dedicated one of the last busy shopping days of the holiday home-stretch to spread some joy to those less fortunate.

Melissa Firmes is the founder of Kids Need More, a Long Island organization that serves children who have battled illnesses.

After decades of helping sick children and their families, she became ill herself.

With the holidays right around the corner, Firmes and her husband John Ray thought it was a great idea to distribute the gifts right then and there, with a bus!

"I didn't think it would work, I thought that was a really really wild thing to do. It took like 15 hours per bus, we had two buses, and we drove all around Long Island delivering these gifts. Now its five years later, we have 28 vehicles in a convoy today," says Firme.

Thanks to the fleet of donated buses and army of volunteers, the ride has become more manageable.