Santa Claus and his helpers traded a sleigh for a firetruck on Christmas Eve to deliver presents to children in Montezuma County.
The Cortez Fire Protection District delivered gifts on Saturday afternoon to families it adopted through the Piñon Project’s Christmas for Kids program. The firefighters collect the funds throughout the year with a voluntary paycheck deduction and use the money to adopt families at Christmas. This year, seven families, including 23 children, received a cooked Christmas dinner, a $50 gift card for groceries and $50 worth of toys for each child. Wal-Mart gave the firefighters a discount to help fill their trucks with gifts.
Assistant fire chief Shawn Bittle accompanied Santa for the first time Saturday, as about a dozen firefighters rode their trucks to homes in the Cortez area. Bittle said it was fun for the firefighters as well as the families who received the presents.
“I love seeing the faces of the kids and their parents,” Bittle said.
Firefighter Chad Daniels coordinates the project every year, but he refuses to take the credit.
“It takes all these guys to make it work,” he said.
In the seven years since the program started, firefighters have delivered presents in the middle of snow storms and heavy rain, but this year those who volunteered said the weather was “beautiful.” Although the National Weather Service predicted snow showers throughout the afternoon, the weather in Cortez was sunny and about 40 degrees when the firetrucks set out at 2 p.m.
The fire department usually adopts about 10 families through Christmas for Kids. This year, the number was a bit lower, because fewer families applied to receive gifts, and more people signed up to be sponsors, according to the Piñon Project. Daniels said he sees that as a positive thing – a sign that fewer families in the community are short on presents this year, and more people are giving.
In any case, Bittle said, enthusiasm is never lacking at the firehouse – they all donate generously.
“We have 100 percent participation,” he said.