Firefighters deliver presents to 110 families through MAAC annual Red Barrel drive
Photos by Ginny Kropf: A sea of boxed food and gifts is ready for firefighters to begin delivering as soon as they finish their breakfast at The Grove United Methodist Church on Saturday morning.
MEDINA – One-hundred and ten families in the Medina area will have gifts and a Christmas dinner, thanks to the Medina Area Association of Churches’ annual Red Barrel/Present program.
Chaired for the sixth year by Sherry Tuohey-Sipple, this year’s giveaway will provide Christmas for 350 individuals, ranging from infants to senior citizens.
(Left) Deb Taylor, chief of East Shelby Fire Company, carries a box of gifts out to a waiting truck for delivery on Saturday morning. (Right) Deanna Quackenbush from Shelby Volunteer Fire Company carries a Christmas gift box out of The Grove United Methodist Church on Saturday morning.
No one can count how many years this program has been ongoing, but it was taken over by MAAC decades ago, and grew from a toy giveaway started by Medina firefighters. Ever since, the Medina firefighters and volunteers from East Shelby, Ridgeway and Shelby have volunteered to deliver upwards of 40 red barrels to strategic locations throughout the Medina area, then pick up the filled barrels early in December and, finally, deliver the packed Christmas boxes to a hundred or more homes.
Sherry Tuohey-Sipple chairs the program, and said none of it would happen if it weren’t for the dedicated volunteers, who sort gifts, pack the boxes and otherwise help with the project.
“We had a lot of volunteers this year,” Tuohey-Sipple said. “The firemen returned the filled barrels to us on Dec. 3, and we started sorting and packing immediately. We had at least 25 volunteers each day, some of which were new.”
Cher Beach, a new volunteer, and Norma Jean Foster, head of the food committee for MAAC’s Christmas gift program, bring out hams to add to the boxes just before local firefighters arrived to deliver them on Saturday morning. At left, Sherry Tuohey-Sipple, head of the MAAC Christmas Present program, makes a final check of one gift box.
Two of the new volunteers were Katie Oakes and Meghan Fuller, who recently joined the MAAC committee.
“I’ve loved this program forever, and as soon as I heard there was an opening, I jumped right in,” Oakes said.
Katie and Meghan have done a lot to promote us this year,” said Norma Jean Foster, who heads the food committee and is responsible for buying the hams and other essentials for a Christmas dinner for each family.
Each year, the biggest challenge is to find gifts suitable for teens, and this year, Oakes and Fuller took on that task. The “teen” category includes ages 9 through 18, and this year there were 98 in that age group. Each child got a gift, Tuohey-Sipple said.
Firefighters from Medina, Shelby, Ridgeway and East Shelby, along with other volunteers, enjoyed a free breakfast Saturday morning at The Grove United Methodist Church. Firefighters delivered boxes of gifts and food for a Christmas dinner to 110 families.
Each year for many years, Bob Harrold of Lyndonville has searched, acquired and restored red wagons and donated them to MAAC. This year Jim Sipple also restored one. The MAAC committee tries to give the red wagons to families who don’t have a car. Many have said how the wagon came in so handy either to give their young children a ride to the grocery store or to carry home their groceries.
This year, two new toy ATVs were donated. Also commended was Jane Wharron, who crocheted lap throws for each of the senior citizens who got a Christmas box, and Kathie McMoil, who works with Foster on the food committee.
“People are so dedicated, even our kitchen crew who put on the breakfast,” Tuohey-Sipple said.
Medina fire chief Steve Cooley finds room for one more Christmas box in his truck on Saturday, when firefighters from Medina, Shelby, East Shelby and Ridgeway delivered Christmas gift boxes to 110 families in the Medina area.
Addressing the firefighters, Tuohey-Sipple said, “We couldn’t do this program without you. You distribute the barrels, you pick them up and bring them back in, and then you deliver the boxes.”
Steve Cooley, Medina’s fire chief, said this was the 16th year he has been volunteering his time to the MAAC project.
“This is a time when people need us the most,” he said.
Also volunteering their time was East Shelby’s fire chief Deb Taylor, Austin Seefeldt and Alexis Rutherford from Ridgeway, along with Ridgeway’s assistant chief, Jerry Lewis.
