First Responders Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports children of first responders and their families, teamed up with the Queens Hospital Center to deliver more than a thousand free holiday toys and masks this month to local children and staff, the latter of which have been working hard on the Frontlines of the Pandemic. With the help of Medical Surgical Patient Care Assistant Ramona Torres, the toys were distributed at the Hospital. Over 120 children and staff members were gifted more than 1000 toys and masks.
“We’re saying happy holidays and thank you to the heroic first responders who show up when we dial 911,” said Jillian Crane, President of First Responders Children’s Foundation. “Toy Express will help make a happy holiday for the children of our first responders which include nurses, firefighters, police officers, EMTs, paramedics, medical personnel, and 911 dispatchers. Our first responders are on the frontlines of the pandemic, and they continue to risk their own health every day in selfless service to their local communities across the country.”
First Responders Children’s Foundation established the Toy Express with a generous toy donation worth more than $3,500,000 in retail value from Mattel and American Girl
including 5,000 signature 18” American Girl dolls and more than 45,000 in other Mattel products such as Hot Wheels®, Barbie® and Mega Bloks®. Additional sponsors include CSX, Good360, Hess Toy Truck, Jakks Pacific, MaskUSA.com, and Toys for Tots. In addition, generous individuals across the nation are helping bring holiday cheer to first
responder families by making donations of toys and money. Transportation of toys and masks across the country is coordinated and provided by Total Quality Logistics (TQL) and their Moves that Matter program.
By the end of the holiday season, First Responders Children’s Foundation’s Toy Express will have delivered almost 250,000 free toys and masks through various COVID-safe events throughout the country.
First Responders Children’s Foundation began in the wake of 9/11 when Founder and Chairman, Alfred R. Kahn, hosted the first annual Thanksgiving Day Parade Breakfast just weeks after the 9/11 attacks. That year, more than 800 children and family members of first responders lost in the line of duty were invited to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade from private, front-row viewing which began an annual tradition of welcoming devastated first responder families into a supportive environment to face the challenges of the start of a holiday season without a loved one. 19 years later, the Foundation continues to support the families of first responders across the country with critical assistance including college scholarships and financial grants including paying for funeral bills of first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their community. During the 2020 pandemic, the Foundation has assisted more than 677,638 first responders through its COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. This holiday season, First Responders Children’s Foundation’s Toy Express will help provide cheer and happiness to children and families of first responders. Media assets for Toy Express can be found at https://1strcf.org/toy-express/.
