FIREFIGHTER'S CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE DATES

I know, we haven't even had Halloween yet, and we should be celebrating one holiday at a time right, so what is this blog post doing talking Christmas? We'll keep it brief but believe it or not we have actually been planning our annual Christmas Toy Drive since June, and October is when we typically get people in our community asking for help during the holidays and we wanted to get a few of the important dates out to you now so families could plan for the season and know what to expect.

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

Applications for families requesting assistance this year will be available starting November 1st. You can stop by the fire station and fill out an application in person or you can find applications on our Facebook and Twitter pages as well as on the City of Forest Grove website. Completed applications can be turned in to the Forest Grove or Cornelius Fire Stations during normal business hours beginning Tuesday November 1, 2011, and the application period will run until Friday, December 16, 2011. If you can't make it to the fire stations during normal business hours you can also call our "Toy Drive Hot line" at 503.992.3184 and leave a message with your family information.

November 21, 2011

Starting the week of November 21st donation bins will be out at the Forest Grove and Cornelius Fire Stations as well as local businesses where toys and non perishable food donations can be dropped off.

December 16, 2011

On December 16, 2011 the application period for this year's project closes. That doesn't necessarily mean that if you come in after the 16th that you won't be able to receive assistance, if we have remaining toys left over we will of course continue to help out. Families who ask for help after December 16th, just have less of an opportunity to have their requests filled as our supply of toys decreases when we fill baskets.

December 16 - 23, 2011

Firefighters will begin filling gift baskets on or around December 16th and we hope to have all orders ready to be picked up at your local fire station by no later than December 23rd. We will call you when your order is ready, gift baskets can be picked up on those days during normal business hours which are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Conference Room at Station 4 filled up with donated toys last year

As always, this project is provided by private donations and is first come first serve for families in the Forest Grove and Cornelius Community. We will make every effort to help as many families as possible, but our ability to do so will depend on how many toys or donated items that we receive. Last year our project served over 300 families and nearly 1,000 children in the Forest Grove and Cornelius community and we didn't have to turn anyone away, our goal is to do the same in 2011.