First responders continue to help hospitalized kids during holiday season

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - First responders across the Tri-State are delivering “Hope for the Holidays” by collecting armloads of toys for kids in local hospitals.

You can find the police, firefighters, sheriff’s deputies, and paramedics working together to collect the toys at the Eastside Walmart. They set up tents and a big semi-trailer in the East Walmart parking lot.

They are looking for new, unwrapped toys to go to children, who are sick over the holidays. They say 100 percent of what you give will reach a kid.

“Luckily, we’ve done well enough the past several years that they don’t only help at Christmas season, but we’ve been able to do it year round," explains EPD Chief Billy Bolin. "So, kids, if they’re in a local hospital for a surgery or they’re really sick or even if they go in to get a shot and they’re upset and crying, the nurses can use this to help calm them down.”

If you don’t want to pick out a toy yourself, Chief Bolin says you can donate cash, which they’ll use to buy more toys. This is their 10th year for the toy drive.

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