Special needs kids get chance to meet Santa, NYPD Highway Patrol

Santa skipped the ferry – and caught a cool ride to Shaolin instead.

Kris Kringle himself teamed up with the NYPD Highway Patrol to deliver a ton of goodies to special needs children on Staten Island on Wednesday.

Dozens of officers from the NYPD’s Highway 5 unit joined this year’s “Santa’s Sleigh Ride,” an event that has brought them to the Seton Foundation to learn in the Bulls Head for the past 12 years.

This year’s celebration was extra special, as it was the event’s founding date. Tommy Cerbone’s final uniform before his upcoming retirement due to a 9/11-related kidney cancer diagnosis.

“We started this 12 years ago… I wanted to build on this thing that changed my life,” Cerbone told The Post.

Officers, family members and neighbors gave children hugs from Santa during the holidays, gave them gifts and let them ride in the seats of NYPD motorcycles.

The Seton Foundation is dedicated to educating children with special needs, and for over a decade has been visiting Highway 5 every holiday to make sure children don’t miss Santa’s visit.

The children held a special ceremony to honor Carbone and thank him for his work with them – but he insisted the day was not about them.

“This is not a date. The Cerbone operation – it’s a Highway 5 operation,” he said.

“This is a group effort with our citizens and our families – it is a group effort. Without these kids, we wouldn’t be here ourselves.”