Toy requests up and donations are down in San Mateo County

On Thursday, Dec. 16, Redwood City firefighter Josh Williams, who drives the station’s ladder truck, went out for a call unlike any other.

That night, the ladder truck rolled through the North Fair Oaks neighborhood in Redwood City with a different mission than any other time of year. The ladder of the truck was loaded with large white garbage bags, inside were gifts wrapped for the 2021 Holiday Toy and Book Drive. 

When the truck stopped, the lights flashed on and out came Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, and a few volunteers who helped coordinate the project.

As they walked the halls looking for specific homes, curious neighbors often peeked their heads out the door to see what was going on. Williams or any of the volunteers were eager to invite children to grab a toy off the truck or take a picture with Santa.

Williams, who has been involved in the program for about nine years, said, “It’s probably both the most humbling and rewarding thing that I do in the Fire Department.”

The joint effort between the Redwood City Fire Department, Redwood City police, San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and California Highway Patrol worked together with more than 50 volunteers, including 10 volunteer Santa’s helpers to deliver presents.

“With generous donations from the residents and businesses of San Mateo County, we were able to put smiles on the faces of approximately 800 families,” Sheriff Carlos Bolanos said.

Volunteers shop for the families, they are told how many kids are in the family and their age group, and then volunteers wrap up the gifts and every kid gets a book, stuffed animal, a primary toy, a secondary toy and a stocking stuffer.

However, Williams’ concern is that donations this year are down from previous ones and over 20% more families are requesting help. 

He said residents looking to donate can do so at any time, they accept donations year-round and this year’s donations will go toward future donations. He also noted that the donations are lacking in the 10-12-year-old age group, especially for girls.

“That is our hardest age group to fill,” Williams said. Donations are accepted at any of San Mateo County’s fire, police and Sheriff’s Office.

Williams noted that a few unique aspects to their program are that all the donations and toys go to local children and families and that it is a year-round program. Even though the majority of their donations are given out during the holidays the three joint municipalities all have access to the toys year-round.

“If we go on a call and something happens to the kids or there are kids involved, police, sheriff’s [deputies] and the fire department all have access to where the toys are year-round,” Williams said.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Sal Zuno volunteered to drop toys off for the Toy Drive said that it’s a great opportunity for community outreach. He said that “he loves to see the reaction on the kids’ faces.”

The Redwood City Fire Department uses funds from its Create-A-Smile program to buy the gifts that they may need for the toy drive for the age groups that have been limited.

The Create-A-Smile program is a fund that the fire department uses when they find a county resident in need.

“Maybe somebody needs a mattress or something like that, we go on a call and they are sleeping on the ground or something, those programs give us an opportunity to help out,” Williams said.

Before COVID-19, the fire and police departments also donated and visited children at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and will donate this year; however, due to COVID protocol they won’t be able to visit the children.

Williams wants to clarify that all toys donated after Dec. 10, are used for the following year. 

Visit the Redwood City website at redwoodcity.org/departments/parks-recreation-and-community-services/human-services/holiday-toy-book-program-sign-ups for more information on donating to the toy and book drive.