Chicago Firefighters Deliver Toys to Children in Hospitals

Chicago emergency responders delivered hundreds of gifts at facilities they normally visit in times of crisis, reports the Chicago Tribune.

At 13 months old, Julian Lazcano was too young to speak or even really understand the firefighters and volunteers who visited his room and formed a small circle around him Friday morning at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

But Julian stretched his eyes wide and looked around curiously as he sat bouncing on the lap of a child-life specialist. And when firefighter Peggy Dempsey handed him a red plastic helicopter, the toddler beat the toy with his hand and tried to press the colorful buttons.

“We’re here when you need us,” Dempsey told the toddler, who had big brown eyes and closely cropped, dark brown hair. “We hope you go home soon.”

Julian was among dozens of children in Chicago hospitals who were given gifts by emergency responders throughout the day, said Rich Pinskey, a firefighter who helps organize the project for the 5th Battalion, 2nd District, Engine Companies 55 and 78, Truck 44 and Tower Ladder 21.

At the hospitals, the Chicago firefighters and their volunteers delivered hundreds of dolls, plastic trucks, bicycles, puzzles and other new toys. The emergency responders went room by room to visit the children who were strong enough to accept guests and to give them toys for the holidays.

“We’ve been doing this for 10 years,” Pinskey said, adding that it was tough enough for the children to be sick, let alone stuck in a hospital over the holidays. “It’s always nice to put a smile on a kid’s face. You get to see that twinkle in their eye.”

While toy drives and giveaways are common this time of year, this project gives the firefighters and paramedics a chance to serve children at the same hospitals they frequent on emergency calls, Pinskey said.

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