Portland Press Herald
SKOWHEGAN, Maine — Crew members of an ambulance service have challenged their counterparts to collect toys for hundreds of disadvantaged children.
''We are challenging the other ambulance services and fire and police departments in the area to help us fill our ambulances,’' said Danielle Jones, paramedic with EMS Ambulance Service. The service is affiliated with Redington-Fairview General Hospital.
Jones said the plan was hatched after crew members read a Morning Sentinel article about the toy shortfall in Skowhegan’s Giving Tree program.
''Each year we try to choose a family we can help support during the holiday season,’' she said. ''We were brainstorming and then the article came out in the paper and we decided it was better to help 300 children if possible.’'
They approached Leisa Porter, the town’s assistant assessor, who helps organize the giving-tree program, and told her of their idea to pool the resources of emergency-service units in Somerset County to come up with the 1,000 toys that will not be donated this year by the national Toys for Tots Foundation.