Spirit of Giving: County Fire Collects Toys for Kids
People gathered on Friday, December 20 for the Sana G Morning Show broadcast live from Chili's parking lot at Bayfair Center in San Leandro to show off donations of food, toys and diapers for area kids for the holidays. It was sponsored by Fire Fighters Local 55, the Alameda County Fire Department, 106 KMEL and Youth Uprising.
“Thousands of toys for thousands of kids” is how Fire Engineer Markus Powell described this year’s holiday toy and diaper drive sponsored by Fire Fighters Local 55, 106 KMEL Radio and Youth Uprising, along with the Alameda County Fire Department.
Those groups brought donations made at dozens of firehouses and other locations throughout the county to a live broadcast of the Sana G Morning Show from the parking lot of Chili’s restaurant at Bayfair Center on East 14th Street in San Leandro, on Friday, December 20.
Toys collected went to the Alameda County Fire Toy Program, along with monetary donations, according to the program’s website. Non-perishable food donations collected went to the Alameda County Food Bank, while diapers donated benefit members of Youth Uprising.
The Alameda County Fire Department contracts with five cities and the county’s unincorporated areas including Castro Valley. They also cover two national laboratories, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley, said department spokesperson Cheryl Hurd.
The firefighters help collect the toys, but don’t distribute the toys themselves. Children get the toys from community nonprofit organizations like the Boys and Girls Club, the Ashland Community Clinic, Calico, Building Futures, Stepping Stones, Agape Villages, the Davis Street Community Center and several local churches.
“We’re different from Toys For Tots in that they’re national, and we make sure all our toys go to local kids,” said Powell, who coordinates the program in addition to his regular firefighter duties. Fire engineers, he explained, drive the trucks.
If the other local nonprofits have any toys left over from their holiday giveaways, those go to the Davis Street Community Center in San Leandro, said Hurd. That organization has its own holiday toy giveaway, on December 23 this year.
There were plenty of donated toys to see at the December 20 event, but Hurd said there was an entire truckload whose contents didn’t safely fit in the Chili’s parking lot.
“This is a time when the community really needs your help. We are not only collecting toys, this year, we are doing something different by asking for diapers for young families in need,” she said.
Financial donations are still being accepted on the toy drive’s website, alcoff55.com, though toy donations wrapped up on Christmas eve, Tuesday, December 24 at area firehouses.