ONTARIO ─ First responders were on a special mission Tuesday ─ distributing toys to families in need.
Men and women in uniform were busy in and out of the service building at Marshall Park, carrying piles of basketballs, dolls and all kinds of toys. Families picked up the presents with gratefulness ─ one of them said the donation was a Godsend for her 5-year-old girl.
The collaboration among Springfield Township Fire Department, Ontario Police Department and local businesses brought the Christmas magic to those families. It is the first year the two public agencies have worked together on the annual toy drive.
Officer Allie Shepherd said Ontario Police issued “Holiday Waivers” to people with minor infractions from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1, hoping they will bring in new toys for children instead. Among the 58 people who donated, the majority brought in multiple items.
Springfield Fire Department worked with retailers such as Dollar General, Menards and Meijer. These businesses set up donation boxes at their stores or provided gift cards for the agencies shopping for the children.
With the community’s help, the drive received hundreds of gifts this year, ranging from baby items, toy cars and trucks to Barbie dolls. Josh Bradley, one of the organizers and Springfield Township fire prevention officer, said they probably tripled the number of toys from previous years.
As a result, almost 100 children from more than 40 families will have Christmas presents this year. Shepherd said the agencies received referrals from schools and churches about children that could benefit from the project. A lot of them are from low-income families or raised by their grandparents.
She also said the number of those in need is more than last year. To make sure the agencies send out the toys blindly, Shepherd reached out to all the families and asked about the age of the children and what they like.
“It’s a blessing every year. But I feel like this is a little bit more of a blessing this year with everything going on, with all the Coronavirus things and families get laid off. I think it’ll be nice,” she said of the toy drive.
At the same time, Bradley, also Ontario’s Fourth Ward councilman, is planning to make the project countywide next year.
He is working on starting a nonprofit organization to gather all police departments, fire departments, churches and schools in Richland County for the annual event.
“If we can get the whole county involved, we can reach a lot more families,” Bradley said.
He also said many people wanted to help with monetary donations this year. However, the fire and police departments were restricted from accepting the money. If there is a dedicated nonprofit, it will be able to magnify the toy drive and make it more organized.
