Firefighters Association Kicks off Annual Toy Drive

For fourteen years the members of the Fredericktown Firefighters Association have assembled the firefighter toy drive, which serves the entire Fredericktown Community and the district we serve. Over the course of time, this project, a labor of love has helped thousands of children right here locally. This drive, sponsored by the association has no ties to a national program and is completely a volunteer effort of hard work and giving. Firefighters work with the Interchurch, Fredericktown OH to identify the need and the number of families with children that will be participating.

“We are already hard at work getting ready for the upcoming toy drive and making sure that we can support it well,” said Firefighter Association President Jason Bostic. “We are working in the Fredericktown community and beyond to make sure that the funding is there to support the families that will be a part of it this year.”

The Association has been already hard at work marketing the toy drive since early September and has several events planned both locally and in Mount Vernon. Firefighter boots will be distributed into the community next week to begin taking monetary donations to help support the event. There will be some boxes at locations in the community where new and unwrapped toys can be dropped off as well.

“I have always felt that the community sort of rallies around this cause, taking pride in the fact that we take care of our area,” said Captain Shane Smith. “After all, the town slogan is, it can be done in a small town.”

This project takes a lot to have the continued success that we have seen. Planning and marketing rolled out earlier because we know that with the holidays, everyone is scheduling events and programs. Everything that we have done in past toy drives we are doing this year, and we are expanding.

“Over time, our toy drive has evolved and grown tremendously here in Fredericktown. As it evolved we needed to ensure we could support it well,” said Bostic. “We are thankful for the continued local partnerships and the new opportunities that we have been presented with. This toy drive takes a lot of resources, and some funding we previously had in grants is no longer available.”

There is an all-day event coming up on November 23 at The Brickhouse Grind in Fredericktown with prizes, giveaways, and several things planned. That event will also serve as a “toy drop off” and is the second year that we have partnered with them. On October 23 and December 4, we have an event at Amato’s Woodfired Pizza of Mount Vernon in Mount Vernon where 15-percent of your purchase will be donated back to the toy drive.

There are several ways to help with the project. New and unwrapped toys can be dropped off at the fire station, 139 Columbus Road in Fredericktown, dive days a week from 9 am-3 pm. Monetary donations can be dropped off at the station or mailed to Fredericktown Firefighters Association, 139 Columbus Road. Checks should be made out to the Fredericktown Firefighters Association, with “Toy Drive” in the memo field. No amount is too big or small, the ability for this drive to be so successful is from great community support by many. They would like to have all toys and donations collected by December 9 in order to put together the shopping date and know what resources they have to work with.

If you are interested in partnering with us and we haven’t had a firefighter boot, or toy donation box at your location before, please reach out to us. We are always looking to expand and continue to grow the success of our toy drive.

More information and updates will be coming out on the Association Toy Drive as we continue to get closer to the events.

For more information on the toy drive or how to help, please contact Bernadette Smith at 740-507-8605. You can also reach out to us through our Facebook by searching FCFD Station 410.