Monday, December 19, 2005
BY QUANNAH LEONARD
Copyright © 2005 Republican-American
Why not get her father and his fellow Bridgeport firefighters to donate a Christmas meal and toys to deserving families?
Hailey, 9, came up with the idea in 2003, when she was a first-grader and a Brownie with Girl Scout Troop 4141. Her father, Bo Diaz, an 18-year firefighter who lives in Naugatuck, has spearheaded it ever since with the help of the Bridgeport Fire Department.
The third annual Firefighters Christmas Families program will help out 17 Bridgeport families this year, said Diaz. Firefighters will deliver a large holiday meal and toys beginning this evening and extending through Wednesday evening.
"It's been good," said Hailey, who is now a fourth-grader and in Juniors with Troop 4141. "Because all the kids get happy when they see the firefighters come up."
Private donations cover the cost of the program, with the bulk coming from the International Association of Fire Fighters union Local 834, Diaz said.
Shortly before Thanksgiving, Diaz begins calling public school social workers to find the families. Fourteen companies, two battalion chiefs and the Bridgeport Fire Department Historical Society have adopted one family each.
In the program's first year, firefighters helped out eight families with a total of 39 children, last year, they helped out 17 families with a total of 98 children, Diaz said.
"We just want to brighten up their holiday season a bit," Diaz said. "There's just so many stories and they all get to you."
The families come from different circumstances, Diaz said. For instance, this year one family has a 10-year-old boy who is battling an inoperable brain tumor, and another lost all their possessions in a house fire.
Thomas Connor, Bridgeport deputy fire chief of operations, said the program is 90 percent Diaz's work, and the firefighters pitch in.
"It's his baby," Connor said. "I think it's great. Firefighters always try to give back to the community."
Connor added he would like to see the department become more involved and spread out the duties so they don't fall on one person.