It’s usually not a good sign when two ambulances full of paramedics roll up to your building.
Not so for TEAM’s Toys For Kids program, where five members of Shelton’s Echo Hose Ambulance Corps on Tuesday delivered hundreds of dolls, games, and other fun stuff for Valley children.
The toys — collected through the efforts of Echo Hose Ambulance Corps and Shelton’s Pine Rock Fire Co. 4 — filled a “special operations” ambulance to its roof.
Emptying the vehicle of its cargo took the better part of 45 minutes — but it was worth it, judging from the smiles on the faces of the volunteers.
Click the play button on the video above to see them at work.
Holly Delorme, who is coordinating the Toys For Kids for TEAM this year, said families will start picking out toys Dec. 17.
She said Tuesday that the program had already received 600 applications.
Families can apply to participate in the program until Dec. 14, she said.
To learn more, call 203 – 736-1040 to reach the store or click here for information from TEAM’s website.
Volunteers will be working at the “store” between now and Dec. 17 to prep the space — sorting the thousands of donated toys, arranging them in different rooms, making sure everything’s accounted for.
Echo Hose Ambulance Assistant Chief Joe Laucella said many of the toys delievered Tuesday came via a “Story Time With Santa” event at the Shelton Community Center Saturday (Dec. 1)
The group has done an annual toy collection at Wal-Mart for more than a decade, he said, but in the past few years the “story time” event, whereby children get a free picture with Santa if they bring a toy to donate, has exceeded expectations year after year.
“It’s grown into such a great event,” Laucella said. “We saw about 200 families that came through that donated toys.”
Last year, Delorme said 1,500 children took part in the program — and about 6,000 toys were put into their hands.
