NYC Firefighters Bring Christmas To Mississippi

By Jessica Taloney Reporter

More than 1200 miles separate New York City and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but Thursday the two seemed much closer.

Published: Thu, December 13, 2007 - 5:45 pm
Last Updated: Wed, January 02, 2008 - 11:46 am

Jessica Taloney

Honking their horns and waving to a crowd of kids, a group of New York City firefighters return to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for what has become a Christmas tradition.
"This is good. This is good right here," said a firefighter riding in one of the seven trucks hauling toys.
The men collected everything from Barbies to action figures for more than 8000 kids who survived Hurricane Katrina.
"We started this thing in August. We started putting feelers out and the response was overwhelming," said Tom O'Connor, who has visited the Gulf Coast five times since the storm. "It's our fifth trip down, but it's our third Christmas," said O'Connor. "We get more out of it than we put into it," he said.
The firefighters unloaded boxes at the Civic Action Complex in Moss Point Thursday morning before driving to Biloxi to deliver even more toys.
"It's kinda payback for all the people that helped us after 9-11," said Kirk Lester, another firefighter who made the trip. "It's the time of year when we should get together and do it, so we're very happy to do it," he said.
With the help of local firefighters the men from NYC pan to distribute the toys to kids enrolled in Head Start Programs on Friday and then to hundreds more kids Saturday morning.