Greenbelt's Firetruck Santas

Three little girls at the last stop in Greenbelt East waited outside in the cold and waved to firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) when they arrived on Saturday afternoon to deliver toys and food.

“You should have been at the last stop,” Kenny Stair, president of the volunteer fire department and a member for 49 years, said.

It was the end of the deliveries for the Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad who had ridden aboard two trucks — between them covering all of Greenbelt — delivering turkeys and fixings and stuffed toys on a Christmas mission.

Fire Chief Thomas Ray was among the volunteers on the mission. Ray said that this is the first year they’ve done this food drive and it was a partnership with St. Hugh’s.

“It was the best ever,” said EMT Kristy Matero, who was on the truck and saw the family.

Stair explained that the three girls and their mother were on their list at the first stop, but no one was home. “I thought, what have we got here, we’re already 0-1,” Stair said.  But the family made up for everything when the volunteer Santas returned for one more try after all the other deliveries. 

“The three girls had eager, big eyes,” Stair said. “Since it was our last stop we had extra toys left, and we found a huge teddy bear for their mom. The girls were well mannered.”

Greenbelt police officer Kelly Lawson was the connection between St. Hugh’s and the fire department, Father Walter Tappe of St. Hugh's said. Lawson, who is also a volunteer firefighter, has begun the process of joining St. Hugh’s, he added. 

The fire department donated $1,000 to buy the food, Chief Ray said. He said that Lawson brought the turkeys to the fire department’s freezer — and the packages of dressing, instant mashed potatoes and other non-perishable fixings for a holiday meal to St. Hugh’s, where volunteers packaged them in boxes. 

St. Hugh’s is the location of a food pantry that has a weekly food pickup for the needy who sign up for the service. It's the only one in Old Greenbelt, Father Tappe said.

Parishioner Dave Pitts said he volunteered himself and his sons— Jonah, 13; Julian, 12; and Ezra, 9 — to provide some of the muscle for helping to load the fire trucks with food and toys.

Although Saturday was the start of her Christmas vacation and she left for Pennsylvania right after the deliveries, Lawson helped make deliveries. “God bless Kelly, she’s a fine young lady,” Father Tappe said.

Fire Chief Ray said that the food drive was a pretty neat event. He said the department organized the event to thank the community for its financial contributions during its annual fund-raising drives.