The Wellman Fire Station will soon be turned into a pop-up toy shop thanks to the generosity of the local community. More than 400 toys, including items such as Barbie dolls, wiffle bats, dart …
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The Wellman Fire Station will soon be turned into a pop-up toy shop thanks to the generosity of the local community. More than 400 toys, including items such as Barbie dolls, wiffle bats, dart guns, duffle bags, backpacks, and action figures, as well as a variety of battery-operated toys and stocking stuffers, will be available for local families to select for their children at no charge on Dec. 10.
“This is going to be all new to us, we’ve never done one of these,” said Tracy Owens, department secretary-treasurer. “We’ve had a few people over the last year say it would be nice if Wellman would do something, and it’s never really transpired. So, we’ve got to take it upon ourselves as a fire department to do it.”
One of the fire departments’ objectives is to both collect and distribute toys within the local community. Another objective is to create an opportunity for the department to give back and show how grateful they are to the community that supports them so completely.
“The big thing was, keep it in a local atmosphere, and the simple fact that the community just gets behind us so big, like on our tenderloin meal raffle tickets, the Fourth of July, those type of things, that it seemed like a great thing to do,” Owens said.
“Just a handful of people” have donated a mountain of toys to the fire department. The employees at Dollar General put a box out to collect for the toy drive and chipped in themselves to purchase toys. The fire department itself purchased toys, and residents have donated both toys and cash as well.
Owens mentioned one memorable family that delivered toys to his house.
“The kids got out of the car and said, ‘We spent $700 at Theisens!’ And they kept on unloading and unloading. I said, ‘You don’t have to do that,’ and she goes, ‘Oh, we had a ball! The kids are old enough now, we don’t buy toys anymore,’” he recalled.
“Just the community support, the checks and toys we have received, is incredible,” he added.
The “toy shop” will be open from 9 to 11 a.m. Owens suggests that when parents come to the fire department to select toys, that they do not bring their children with them. When they enter the department, they’ll be allowed to select one toy for each of their children for free; if the situation allows for it, they can get in line again and select toys a second time. Owens hopes that all the toys, which generally suit ages 3-12, will be gone by the end of the morning.
“We just want the kids to have a good Christmas, regardless of what’s going on in the rest of the world,” he said.
The Wellman Volunteer Fire Department’s Christmas Toy Give-A-Way is Saturday, Dec. 10 from 9 – 11 a.m. at the Wellman Fire Station, 95 3rd Street, Wellman.