FOF hosts Annual Toy Give Away Day

Lexington, Ky. (WTVQ) — After months of preparation the Lexington Fire Department held their Annual Toy Give Away Day on Saturday.

ABC 36 spoke with organizers and some student volunteers about getting to give back to the community.

“Well, today is an amazing day,” said Chris MacFarlane, President of the Lexington Fraternal Order of Firefighters. “What I love about this is my classmates from the fire department, my coworkers, my brothers and sisters on the fire department, chiefs and families. They’ve all sacrificed just a little bit of their time to come here for this one day. The most amazing part is that you see them here in their little element for this one, two, three or five hours. But they’ve put 50 hours in ahead of time making sure this looks nice.”

With such a busy day ahead and the joy of giving back over 150 volunteers were at the North Pole on Saturday to help out over 800 families that signed up for the toy drive.

To help make sure things run smoothly, families came in increments.

“We have four sessions for the families, the first one opened up at nine,” said MacFarlane. “We were able to open the door without any major hiccups and got them in here. The families are very appreciative and very happy so that was nice to see.”

Other volunteers included high school and middle school Spanish students.

“So today we’re helping the Lexington Fire Department to help give toys to those in need right now,” said Lily Miracle, a Spanish Volunteer. “We’re all here as Spanish volunteers for those that don’t speak English and only speak Spanish, so they can still feel represented.”

MacFarlane says it’s great to give back to the community in a way that does not deal with emergencies.

One of his favorite parts is the families.

“The looks on their faces. We’re happy that we’re able to help a child out.”

The Spanish volunteers want to wish everyone a “Happy Holidays!” And “Feliz Navidad!”