Bravest storm of love
City firefighters bring gifts to hurricane-hit kids in Texas
DOZENS OF RETIRED city firefighters traveled more than 1,500 miles to hand out Christmas presents in Texas to children whose families are still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.
“Not only do these kids not have a Christmas tree, they don’t have a house to put a Christmas tree in,” explained retired FDNY Lt. Thomas O’Connor, who organized Saturday’s special holiday gift-giving mission. “I couldn’t stand the thought that this could happen to my child or my grandchild and no one would come help. That was the motivating force for this.”
Many of the firefighters traveling to the Lone Star State had been part of the recovery effort in late August when Harvey made landfall along the Texas coast.
Rain pounded the region for three days, flooding Houston and surrounding areas and inflicting $200 billion in damage.
The firefighters who arrived in the fall were stunned by the massive cleanup residents had to endure, O’Connor said.
“Last time we were here, we met a woman who had lived in the same house for 61 years,” O’Connor recalled. “She had to be airlifted out of the area by helicopter because there was 61/2 feet of water in her living room.”
O’Connor also assisted in the cleanup in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — but the aftermath of Harvey was different, he said.
“It wasn’t like Katrina where houses were blown off their foundations,” he said. “It was like someone stuck a hose in everyone’s house and filled every one of them up with water.”
The damage was so extensive, O’Connor and his fellow firefighters decided to re-ignite a tradition that they started after Katrina — making sure each storm victim got at least one Christmas present.
With the help of the Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation, O’Connor and his team were able to collect 3,000 toys — enough to fill two tractor trailers — which were flown to Texas.
Once they touched down, O’Connor and his team — comprised of 34 FDNY retirees and two active firefighters — split up, put on Santa hats and began distributing toys to children in Beaumont, Orange and North Orange. Three local churches agreed to be distribution points.
The mission was a success with more than 100 families participating in the toy giveaway in North Orange alone, O’Connor said.
None of the toys were wasted. Any leftover gifts are going to be donated to Catholic Charities for future toy distributions as the holiday draws closer.
“Every toy is going to be in a child’s hand before Christmas,” O’Connor said.
That’s what keeps these firefighters wanting to help long after they’ve hung up their bunker coats.
“(The toys) brighten them up and it brightens us up,” O’Connor said. “It’s so worth it when you see the kids come in.”
“It’s a great feeling to just put a smile on a kids face,” he said.