Joy of Christmas

Santa Claus will make his rounds on Christmas morning in an antique fire truck, delivering presents to 100 underprivileged children as part of the Holiday 2006 Toy Program.

Another 400-500 children will pick up their gifts – which include three toys, one stuffed animal and one game – at the Bullhead City Fire Department.

The program is run by volunteer firefighters and receives dozens of monetary donations and toys from drives hosted by businesses, non-profit organizations and churches.

Originally hosted by a local radio station, firefighters took over operations in 1983 after two station employees spoke to a young firefighter about a toy program. The firefighter grew up to become Bullhead City Fire Chief Rick Southey, who would spearhead the program for the next seven years.

In its first years of operations – before the Salvation Army came to Bullhead City – the program obtained children’s names from local churches, families and friends. In 1988, the Salvation Army arrived and began handing out holiday food boxes, so the firefighters began distributing the toys to children of those same families.

Parents make a wish-list and firefighters’ wives – who understand children a bit better – select the gifts from among the donated toys, said Larry Tunforss, spokesperson for the fire department.

It’s impossible to list all those who donate toys, money or time to the program, Tunforss said. Besides big businesses like Wal-Mart and the Ramada Express Hotel & Casino, dozens of others make donations or volunteer to wrap the toys.

Firefighters work the door at Wal-Mart on the weekends and usually bring in about $500 a day. From just last Saturday and Sunday, Tunforss said, they gathered enough in change to fill a 44 oz. cup.

Firefighters install batteries into each mechanical toy, and make sure each gift is packaged in different wrapping paper.

“This may be all they’re getting,” Tunforss said. “So we at least want different paper. Unfortunately, we have a lot of parents in our community that live on a paycheck that’s not as much as they’d like it to be. And when the holidays come around, it’s an extra added expense for them.”

Early December is also a slow time for casinos, he said, which means lower incomes for employees who work for tips.

And it’s seeing the parents’ gratitude and children’s joys, he said, that makes the program worthwhile.

“If you go out Christmas morning you’ll see the smiles on the kids’ faces. You’ll see parents crying,” he said. “And that’s why we do it.”

Comments are closed.