By Mark Hofmann
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — To help collect more gifts for needy children in the area, Toys for Tots is teaming up with the Fayette EMS and the Uniontown Dairy Queen to fill an ambulance with toys.
“This is the first time for this event, but I’m excited,” said Dan Martin, Toys for Tots coordinator.
Martin said he wanted to do an event in which an ambulance gets filled with toys, and he was pleased when Brian Shakespeare, an EMT from Fayette EMS, contacted him this year about doing just that.
“This has been in the works for a month and a half,” Martin said.
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Dairy Queen along Route 40 in Uniontown, an ambulance from Fayette EMS will be in the parking lot and open to be stuffed with donated toys.
Martin said that Froggy and Pickle radio stations will have a live broadcasts throughout the event.
Shakespeare has been donating toys to Toys For Tots for years through the EMS Angels, a motorcycle club, but wanted to do more and get businesses involved to donate to children who don’t have much.
“I wanted to get more people involved and try to see what we can raise,” Shakespeare said, adding that Fayette EMS stations are collecting toys for donations, as well.
Martin said if the toy drive is a success, they will look at bringing in other Dairy Queens in the area to participate and expand the toy drive.
“It’s a good cause,” said Judy Lynn-Craig, the owner of the Dairy Queen. “Dairy Queen and children go together. We like to help out.”
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