Rocky View firefighters are going all out to ensure the magic of Christmas is there for local families in need.
Rocky View fire stations are taking part in their 7th annual toy drive up until Dec. 18.
“We have a minimum of two boxes at every station within the county,” explained Springbank Fire Station firefighter and toy drive co-organizer Dakota Wohl. “We’re just asking people to donate unwrapped gifts and drop them off at any of our locations there. I think our plan is to start collecting boxes on the 18th of December. If people do want to continue to donate toys after that date, it just means that they'll be put into the pack for next year.”
The toys are donated to the Calgary-based charitable organization The Magic of Christmas. Founded in 1983, The Magic of Christmas has more than 6,000 volunteers. On Christmas Eve, the charity uses Calgary Transit buses, which are decorated as Santa’s reindeer, and volunteers dressed as Santa and his elves, to visit over 650 families across the region, delivering gifts and food hampers. They also bring Christmas cheer to over 4,500 people in hospitals, care homes and other institutions.
Wohl said he and his fellow firefighters look forward to helping out in this way every Christmas.
“It's important because we spend a lot of our time already helping the community, and doing something like this and being able to help out, especially in this time of year where it is tough for a lot of people, (is great),” said Wohl. “Just being able to help organize and realistically not take all that much time out of our day to truly help– it's a great cause, and it goes to help out a lot of families around this time of year.”
Besides the collection points at the County fire stations and at RVC headquarters, the drive also collects through the Harmony Discovery Centre and Elbow Valley Discovery Centre.
“Between them, and all of our stations, we can usually fill anywhere from 10 to 12 boxes every year full of toys,” explained Wohl. “So I’d say it has been a very successful initiative.”
After gathering the toys and taking them over to The Magic of Christmas warehouse, Wohl said several county firefighters will also head over to help fill the charity’s buses on Christmas Eve.
“We like doing it,” he said, referring to both the toy drive and the Christmas Eve volunteerism. “We like being involved in these community events, and seeing people, and building that relationship with them as well. It's very important to us as a fire service and it's important to the community to see us.”
For more information on The Magic of Christmas visit www.themagicofchristmas.org.
Those wishing to help out by dropping off toys for the RVC firefighters’ 2023 toy drive can do so up until Dec. 18.
