Toy Bank brings Christmas cheer to kids in need

HAMPTON — A bicycle is a common Christmas gift in many American middle class families.

But when one little girl from Hampton asked for a bike this year, her parents just didn’t have the money to make it happen.

So when Hampton firefighter Buck Frost presented the girl’s mother with a brand new bike last Sunday to give her daughter, she broke down in tears.

“She started bawling right in front of me,” Frost said. “It was just amazing to understand how much people appreciate it.”

A total of 175 kids from 68 Hampton families received donated gifts this Christmas thanks to the Seacoast Area Firefighters Toy Bank, a program run in 11 Seacoast communities. This December marked the Hampton firefighters’ 31st year of participation.

Portsmouth's toy bank reached 118 kids in 57 families for Christmas, and 105 kids from 55 Seabrook families were also given toys through donations. Exeter and North Hampton were also among the communities that participated. 

Families in need during the holiday season receive applications through their local junior high school and at the fire stations. The applications serve as a “wish list” for their children up to age 14. The firefighters then ask for toy donations around town, through boxes put out in stores and through fundraisers. Cash donations are used by the firefighters to purchase toys on the wish lists.

Hampton firefighters placed 24 donation boxes around town in various businesses, from banks to shops like Marelli’s Market. Local eateries also offer to act as venues for fundraisers. The Hampton Firefighters Chili Cook-off at Wally’s at Hampton Beach is an annual hit, which took place on Nov. 6. The Community Oven also held a fundraiser with Seacoast radio station WXGR, where patrons could enter raffles by donating a toy.

“There’s a whole community effort,” Hampton Firefighter Matt Cray said. “It’s not just the firefighters.”

Each community does their toy bank differently. North Hampton Firefighter Angelo Puglisi puts up a Christmas tree in the local Shaw’s with children’s wishes hanging as ornaments. Shoppers can take the wish lists, which are coded to provide anonymity, and then return the gifts to Shaw’s or directly to the fire station. Thirty-five North Hampton kids received toy donations this year.

In Hampton, the firefighters held a meet-and-greet with Santa Claus at the Trinity Episcopal Church on High Street. The meeting with Santa served as a decoy. While the kids sat on Kris Kringle’s lap and ate snacks, the firefighters met in the parking lot with parents to deliver gifts.

It was then that Frost met the woman who broke down with gratitude for the bicycle.

“It’s incredible the appreciation we see every year from the families that need these toys,” Frost said. “It’s overwhelming. It makes it easy to keep doing this every year.”

The firefighters encounter some attempts at fraud. Marc Bibaud of the Seabrook Fire Department said there were 400 kids that had applied for gifts the year he took over leadership of his community's toy bank four years ago. With a population of less than 1,000, Seabrook didn’t seem big enough to have that many children in need, Bibaud said. It was that year that the Seabrook firefighters began making sure that families qualified for donations, like checking with the school nurse to see if kids were receiving free lunches at school.

The Seabrook Toy Bank has since brought its donations down from 400 kids to 105 this year.

“Fraud is what we’re getting out of,” Bibaud said.

But there are always signs that show the applications are legitimate. Frost recalls one little boy four years ago who only asked for a yo-yo.

“You know they’re in need around Christmas time when the only thing they ask for is a yo-yo,” Frost said. “That’s one that sticks with me. I’ll never forget.”

Last year, a girl said she wanted a “real Christmas tree." When Frost went to Home Depot to get one, the store offered $500 in goods to the family, including gift certificate to a grocery store so the family could have a decent holiday meal.

“All because the little girl wanted a real tree,” Frost said. “That’s all she asked for, and they took good care of her.”