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Firefighters' toy giveaway brightens holidays
By Marci Laehr
At the end of a fairy deserted Caledonia road, inside a couple of donated storage units, you wouldn't expect to find hundreds upon hundreds of reasons to smile. But there are. Lined up neatly in rows, or arranged in enormous cardboard boxes, are brand-new shiny toys in all shapes and sizes. From dolls to motorcycles to basketballs, the toys fill the garage-like space of both units. All of them are donated, and all will be distributed to children in Caledonia and Mount Pleasant by the tender-hearted firefighters in Local 2740.
"We get a load like this every year," said Kenny Kovac, 35, the firefighter who organizes the toy giveaway program.
Promotions Unlimited has donated the toys to the firefighters' program for the last three years. This year, there are at least 50 huge cardboard boxes of stuff, along with larger items lined neatly along the walls of the storage units.
There are lawnmowers, buckets of chalk, dolls, motorcycles, fire engines, sleds, books, wagons, a golf set, baseball mitts and balls, squirt guns, airplanes, shopping carts, building sets, farm animals, infant toys, dolls, sleeping bags, crayons, fishing poles and bubbles. And that is just what's visible at a quick glance.
"This is amazing," he said.
It's also incredible just how simply and innocently the now successful program started three years ago.
"It just went crazy from there," he said.
That first year, Kovac and other firefighters took a group of children - who the Mount Pleasant-Caledonia Health Department had identified as having health problems - shopping at Kmart for Christmas gifts.
"The kids' faces are just unbelievable," said Kovac in a December 2002 interview after the first shopping trip. "Throughout the year, the kids are constantly doing something for us. The send us cards and letters. This is our way to give back to them."
During that first trip, the TV news showed up and aired a story on the good will. That very night, Kovac not only received about $1,500 from folks for the next year, he also received a surprising phone call from Promotions Unlimited. They said they had $10,000 to $15,000 worth of toys they wanted to donate to the program.
It was the beginning of something special.
Kovac said because the next year they had all these great toys to donate, they expanded the program. With the help of the Health Department, they identified some children in the town who could just use an extra smile, and delivered new toys to them - in their fire engine! - the week before Christmas.
Kovac said the delivery is almost always a surprise to the children. This year they will probably deliver toys to 50 children in Caledonia and Mount Pleasant.
"Every year it gets bigger and bigger," Kovac said.
Almost all of the 30-some Caledonia firefighters get involved in the project each year.
"It's us giving back to the community,"
Kovac said.
Their work actually begins after they've received the donations. It's then that they have to sort all the wonderful toys by age and gender, and then match gifts to the children on the list given to them by the Health Department.
"At one point or another, everyone gets involved," said firefighter Wally Leininger, 32.
And although they don't hold annual fund-raisers to support the program, plenty of individuals and businesses in the area have generously given to make it happen again and again.
Kovac and Leininger said the firefighters would love to be able to give to the children of the community even more, taking them to the pumpkin patch in the fall, and Six Flags in the summer. However, they need donations to keep the program going and to expand it.
Anyone interested in making a donations can send them to: Caledonia Fire Station No. 2, 6040 Douglas Ave., Racine, WI 53402. All checks should be made out to Caledonia Firefighters Local 2740 - Kid's Fund.
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