Canarsie EMS station giving gifts to children in the neighborhood
Other stations in the division and the Steelhorses Motorcycle Club are helping bring truckloads of toys to kids in need.
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Kids in Canarsie will be receiving gifts a little earlier than when Santa arrives thanks to EMS Station 58.
Paramedic Juan Lebron and numerous volunteers are visiting hospitals and foster care homes throughout Brooklyn to give away toys as part of the EMS station’s annual holiday toy drive.
“It’s kind of heart-wrenching to see kids in the hospital, so we just look forward to actually stopping by and just trying to enlighten their day,” said Lebron. "I believe that it's important for us to give back and acknowledge the area in which we work."
The inspiration for the toy drive came after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 – Lebron was a volunteer firefighter in Queens at the time. Someone donated toys to his Queens station, which he took to kids in nearby hospitals. Eleven years later, his tradition hasn’t stopped.
Other stations in the division and the Steelhorses Motorcycle Club are helping bring truckloads of toys, and one volunteer says it’s about more than just the kids.
"The impact is contagious. It does not just affect the parents, it does not just affect the child it affects the staff that's at the hospital because the staff sees such love,” said Kimberly Toliver of the Steelhorses Motorcycle Club.
