To Members of the Community;                  |TOY DRIVE 2008|

It is well known that The United States Marine Corps has an excellent toy campaign.  This campaign, known as Toys for Tots, is a registered trademark of the United States Marine Corps Reserves.  It is in this program that the Menlo Park Firefighter Associations’ Annual Toy and Food Drive has its roots.

Our Association and Fire District was a collection point for the Marines beginning in the late 1960’s.  In 1979 two of our members became increasingly involved in the Toys for Tots campaign; these members were Fire Captains Brad Steiger (USMC) and John Rohrer (USN), who within five years had founded the Menlo Park Firefighter Association’s Toy Drive. 

Eventually Captains Rohrer and Steiger retired and passed the torch to Firefighter Ray Abel (USMC) who ran the program for over two decades.  Upon his retirement the torch was passed again and so the tradition continues. It is important to recognize that the Toy Drive is an effort on the part of all Association Members and has the full support of the Fire District, which has enabled it to operate successfully for four decades.
                                                                                           
The Association collects toys, books, stuffed animals, food and monetary donations.  Over the years Saint Anthony’s Church, Stanford Hospital, the VA Hospital, Second Harvest Food Bank, Ecumenical Hunger Program and the Ronald McDonald House have all been vehicles for distribution of the holiday charity.

This season sixty-five barrels in fifty-six locations throughout the local area collected donations from our generous citizens.  In addition to the efforts of Menlo Park Firefighters, other public service agencies such as San Mateo Firefighters, Redwood City Firefighters and the Belmont/San Carlos South Firefighters assisted with providing toys for this years Toy and Food Drive. The goods were distributed to nearly three thousand children throughout our community.

The recipients included; patients on two floors of Stanford Children’s Hospital, five hundred children at the Menlo Park VA Hospital, over fifteen hundred children at Saint Anthony’s on Christmas Eve with another five hundred children at St. Anthony’s on Christmas Day.  The Saint Anthony’s food kitchen was stocked with over twenty barrels of food, and the Second Harvest Food Bank was supported which helped their efforts to provide a Holiday meal to members of our community.

Without the full support of program participants like you the Association’s Annual Toy and Food Drive would not be possible.  On behalf of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District and the Menlo Park Firefighters’ Association we thank you for making this year a success.  

Thank You,