A firefighter from the Three Rivers Fire Department helps deliver boxes of toys and gifts for a family in need during Monday’s distribution for the Firefighters for Santa program.
(From left to right) Maelyn Grosskunzte and Olivia Kerr help wrap up gifts during a wrapping event for Firefighters for Santa Sunday at the Fabius-Park Fire Department.
By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — In the days before Thanksgiving, a house fire displaced Tessa Pitcher of Three Rivers and her children, leaving them with practically nothing for the holiday season.
However, when fire trucks from the Three Rivers Fire Department and Fabius-Park Fire Department showed up to her current place of residence Monday morning, it was an emotional moment for a different reason: It meant her kids were going to get a Christmas that she wasn’t able to give them herself due to the circumstances.
That’s because her family was one of the first stops that local firefighters made in Monday’s distribution for Firefighters for Santa, a local nonprofit program set up by TRFD and FPFD firefighters dedicated to getting gifts to kids in need in the Three Rivers community.
“After the tragedy that happened for me and my babies, this means a lot,” Pitcher said. “It’s going to mean a lot, because I had nothing left to be able to give them. I really appreciate [the firefighters], and thank them for everything.”
Pitcher’s family was one of 27 families Firefighters for Santa helped this year, with 68 kids receiving presents this Christmas season. The program started back in 2006, and despite a brief hiatus in the early 2020s due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been going on ever since, helping families in Three Rivers, Fabius Township, Lockport Township, Park Township and Flowerfield Township.
Adam Fleckenstein, a TRFD firefighter, leads the Firefighters for Santa program along with his wife Tawnya Fleckenstein, the so-called “head elf” of the program. Both of them said it’s important to give those kids who are facing hardships and difficulties, such as a house fire, homelessness, or losing a parent or parents, the best Christmas possible.
“We’re trying to make sure that not only they have Christmas, but we also take care of other kids inside the household that have adopted them as a thank you and outpouring of support from our fire community,” Adam said.
“Sometimes life throws curveballs your way, and it’s really stressful, and sometimes they’re out of our control, and so we step in to help relieve the stress for the parents so they can focus and handle that situation that they’re in,” Tawnya said.
Through donations of toys via local stores, schools, churches and FPFD, as well as monetary donations from individuals and businesses, the program received an estimated 1,500 gifts this year to deliver to the kids, which included toys, shoes, hats, coats, blankets, and stuffed animals. This year’s donation boxes were set up from Nov. 10 to Dec. 12.
Local schools helped the Fleckensteins figure out families to help out with the program, sending lists of kids that are struggling or need the most help during the holiday season. The pair then reach out to the families to coordinate the delivery of the gifts. For those who may not be around during the morning on Monday, pickups were arranged either Sunday or Monday evening at FPFD.
Gifts the kids will be receiving are as personalized as possible. Parents or guardians of families selected give a wish list to the firefighters along with a questionnaire that specifies any dislikes or allergies, as well as the kids’ favorite color, clothing sizes, shoe sizes, and more. Gifts are picked out from the donations people send in via the donation boxes or Amazon wish list, or picked out on a shopping trip this past Saturday by the firefighters using donated funds.
“If there’s items that are on their wish list and that we don’t have donated, some of the monetary donations that businesses and individuals in our community graciously donate to us, so we then, in turn, have a shopping day that we go out as a collective group, and we go out and shop at local stores, primarily Meijer as they’re one of our donors, and get those items for them,” Adam said.
Those gifts were then wrapped by an army of over 40 volunteers Sunday at FPFD, which included Three Rivers High School National Honor Society students, TRHS Kindness Club students, Three Rivers Community Schools staff, and firefighters. Adam said the number of volunteers that were helping out was a way to show that the community “cares immensely about our local community.”
“There’s more good in people than people realize. They just need to have a way to facilitate and direct helping out,” Adam said.
The wrapped gifts were put in boxes for each kid or family, and for those who arranged deliveries on Monday morning, the firefighters headed out at 9 a.m. Monday to begin their rounds, ending just before 12:30 p.m. At nearly each stop, horns and sirens announced the arrival of the fire trucks and ambulance that were part of the Firefighters for Santa convoy, with the firefighters dropping off the gift boxes to the families. Some of the kids receiving presents even got to take a look at the fire trucks, with a couple of them having fun with the horns and sirens.
Families, especially the parents or grandparents of kids that received gifts, shared one common sentiment Monday – gratefulness.
“This is amazing, beyond what I would’ve ever expected. I thought maybe just a couple of gifts, and I’ve even impressed as a grandmother,” Mary Mulcahey said.
“It brings me a lot of joy, brings them a lot of joy, and we’re blessed they were able to do this,” Marquitta Shelton said. “Times are hard for everybody, so it’ll be huge for them. We’ve had a lot of grief, and we’re just trying to make the best of it.”
“I am extremely grateful for this. I’m a newly-single mom, and I can’t afford Christmas this year,” Jocelyn Borger said. “It’s a blessing, for sure.”
“We’re very grateful. We see this happen on TV, but this actually happened to us. We didn’t expect this much, and we’re really grateful for these guys,” Vernon Everett said.
At the end of the day, Adam Fleckenstein said, seeing the smiles and gratefulness makes all the hours put into the program worth it.
“It’s very enjoyable and fulfilling that we got to see all the kids’ faces when we delivered it. Their expressions when they saw all their gifts, it made the entire program worth it,” Adam said.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
