Fire Department Collecting Toys for Needy Kids

Christmas will be here in a few short weeks, and the Newport Beach Fire Department wants to make sure every child in Orange County will be unwrapping a holiday gift.

The Fire Depatment is collecting donations of new and unwrapped toys, as well as sports equipment, through Dec. 24. Jennifer Schulz, spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Fire Department, says the toys will be distrubuted to more than 300 local organizations.

"We have requests for 250,000 toys from charities throughout Orange County," Schulz said. "The sooner we get them, the better, because we need time to sort them by age and gender and get them to the charities."

The NBFD is part of the Orange County Toy Collaborative—a partnership of the Orange County Firefighters' Spark of Love toy drive, the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program, Orange County Social Service Agency's Operation Santa Claus program and the St. Vincent de Paul holiday charities program—which works together to provide Christmas gifts to needy children throughout Orange County.

If you know a family in need of toys for children this Christmas, Toy Request/Family Referral sheets are available at all Orange County fire stations and at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, located at 730 N. Garfield Ave. in Santa Ana. Monetary donations can also be made to the Orange County Toy Collaborative in care of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, 8014 Marine Way, Irvine, CA 92618, Attn: Demetria Lee. Checks should be made payable to the Orange County Toy Collaborative.