Firefighters fighting Christmas blues
POUGHKEEPSIE – City of Poughkeepsie firefighters, members of the International Association of Firefighters Local 596, joined friends and family members on Sunday at the Italian Center in Poughkeepsie to play the part of Santa’s elves.
Local 596 member Paul Bucher and his coworkers adopted 14 families in need, collected donated gifts and purchased a few more and wrapped the 338 gifts Sunday night so that Santa could deliver them throughout the city on Christmas Eve day.
According to Bucher, the donated gifts were largely supplemented by financial support from Mike Baroni of Baroni Recycling. In addition to gifts for the adopted families, the elves wrapped several toys, sorted by gender and age groups to be handed out throughout the city to children Santa encountered.
At each of the 14 designated stops, Santa and his band of elves dressed as firefighters would exit the rigs, grab the boxes of toys and proceed to the door.
Mayor Robert Rolison, who joined the firefighters at a few of the stops said 58 children were getting presents because of the generosity of those who donated to the firefighters of Local 596.
“The joy on the faces of these kids is just…it’s priceless,” said Rolison while Santa posed with a mother and her young baby. “It makes Christmas. This is what it’s all about”
Bucher said playing Santa for the community “”is just one more way that our firefighters serve the community. My fellow members of Local 596 and I not only protect the community during fires but we also help those in need of different types of support. Our three firehouses are always open and members of the community can stop in and visit.”
Bucher noted that after Santa had visited the 14 homes, The American Red Cross reached out and asked them to help one more child in Poughkeepsie who was not going to be celebrating Christmas. Once again the firefighters answered the alarm, jumped into action and delivered the gifts.
