2018: A record year for local Toys for Tots

Yuba-sutter campaign was able to help 400 more children

The Yuba-sutter Toys for Tots campaign had a record year in 2018, as nearly 2,000 low-income children in the area received gifts during the holidays.

Bob Harlan, the local coordinator of the nationwide campaign, said Yuba-sutter Toys for Tots was able to serve an additional 400 children in the community last year, for a total of 1,848 low-income children.

A total of 3,557 gifts were given out, as well as 467 books and 2,046 stocking stuffers.

Almost all of the gifts were collected and donated by more than 60 participating businesses with drop-off locations, and through a special two-day event with the Yuba City Fire Department at Target, Harlan said.

Gifts were either given away during a two-day family distribution event through Toys for Tots or by other organizations that were provided the gifts to be distributed locally.

Toys for Tots is just one of three major organizations that do giveaways to local families in need during the holidays – others include the Salvation Army and Soyoucan.

“Nearly 2,800 low-income children are served when our numbers are combined,” Harlan said. “Very honestly, these families only cover part of the families in need of gifts for their children. We hope to continue to grow the numbers served. In the case of

Olivehurst

Last year, Olivehurst firefighters responded to 1,630 calls – 91 more than in 2017. Like other departments, medical calls make up a majority of their day, but it’s not clear if the rise in calls was all due to medical.

“It’s been a little bit of everything,” Battalion Chief Randy York said Thursday. “It hasn’t been one call specific.”

Wheatland

The number of calls firefighters responded to in Wheatland also dropped: from 1,010 calls in 2017 to 961 calls last year.

Wheatland Fire Authority Chief Art Paquette said the higher number of calls in 2017 was a bit of an anomaly – more people wanted help for lift assists (helping people with disabilities who can’t get up on their own). But what’s more of a challenge for the department isn’t even the fires or medical calls.

“What’s really a challenge for us is traffic,” Paquette said Thursday. “Highway 65 is a disaster … there’s a lot of vehicle accidents. Give us our bypass and that will drop it down.”

And like so many other public safety departments in the region, staffing is an issue in Wheatland; in the evenings, the department relies on volunteers.

“It’s the same story you hear from other departments – low budget and funding with more calls,” Paquette said. “We’re a combination Salvation Army and Toys for Tots, we ask families to register for gifts for their children beginning in early October at the Salvation Army.”

The local Toys for Tots campaign raised more than $10,000 in cash donations to help purchase gifts. On top of that, the local campaign received $14,000 in gifts, free of charge, from the Toys for Tots national organization, Harlan said.

Across the country, approximately 18 million toys were distributed to 6.9 million children through the Marine Toys for Tots program, Harlan said.

(paid and volunteer) fire department, so we’re always shortstaffed.”

Brownsville

The Foothills Volunteer Fire Department covers 112 square miles of Yuba County foothills including Brownsville, Challenge, Rackerby and Strawberry Valley. Last year, the department responded to 502 calls – down nine calls from the year before.

For this department, calls vary from year to year with medical aid making up the majority. But in 2018, structure fires and wildland fires took up time and resources as well. Responding to those major events is made more difficult by the topography of the foothills: winding, narrow roads that become more dangerous during extreme weather events, an on-shift firefighter said Thursday.

The department’s first-response engines have an automatic snow chain system that activates with the push of a button; which is especially helpful when responding to mutual-aid calls in La Porte – which jumps 1,200 feet in elevation in a matter of 13 miles.

For a department made up entirely of volunteers, training and understanding the distinctive terrain is crucial to successfully responding to calls up and down the foothills.

“Our availability to get out there requires skills and driving,” the onshift firefighter said.

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