COUNTYWIDE : Firefighters Play Santa With Bikes

Dozens of firefighters spent their days off this week assembling more than 350 tricycles, beach cruisers and 10-speed bicycles that will be given to hundreds of underprivileged or abused children on Christmas Day.

The bicycles were purchased with money raised by the Orange County Fire Department as part of Operation Santa Claus, a program run by the county’s Social Services Agency.

“There’s nothing worse than to see tears in the eyes of a child during Christmas, and this is our way of helping to alleviate some of that,” said Capt. Hank Raymond, a firefighter who serves as the program’s official Santa Claus.

Last year, more than 13,000 children were provided with gifts through the program, which is also supported by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, various county agencies, several businesses and the Orangewood Children’s Home.

The firefighters became involved in Operation Santa Claus after participating in the Toys for Tots program for many years. They switched to Operation Santa Claus in 1983 because it specifically addressed the needs of children in Orange County, Raymond said.

“We are in the business of protecting people, so firefighters have to have some kind of compassion and caring,” Raymond said. “When we’re out there in the line of duty, we get to see how some of the less fortunate live. This is a way to give a little bit back.”

This holiday season has been a particularly busy one for the firefighters. In addition to purchasing and assembling the bicycles, they have been collecting hundreds of toys, some of which were distributed at a party last weekend at Tustin Marine Corps Air Base for the families of military personnel involved in Operation Desert Shield.

The remainder of the toys will be given to children who are either staying in Orangewood Children’s Home or in foster homes.

To make sure that each gift suits a specific child, foster parents and social workers are invited to the Operation Santa Claus store at Orangewood where they can shop for an appropriate gift.

“A unique part about this program is that a child isn’t just handed a random gift. They usually get something that they asked for or need,” Raymond said.

Although donations to Operation Santa Claus have declined a bit this year, Raymond said it’s still not too late to give.

Anyone wishing to donate toys can drop them off, unwrapped, at any of the Orange County Fire Department’s 46 stations, at any of the 52 Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Orange County, or at the Orangewood Children’s Home, 401 City Drive South, Orange.