THUNDER BAY – For as long as Thunder Bay Firefighter Ryan Currie can remember he has always helped the community in one way or another.
Every year Currie, along with many other firefighters, spend the holiday season collecting donations for the 50-year-old Toys for Tots initiative, which works under the Christmas Cheer campaign. The inspiration of his story led to thousands of votes being cast on tbnewswatch.com in his name, and more than 1,000 shares of his story through Facebook and Twitter.
As the Holiday Hero winner, Currie receives the title of tbnewswatch.com's 2016 Holiday Hero and a $1,000 cash prize.
It’s actually incredible,” Currie said after being told his Holiday Hero story inspired many people. “It’s pretty neat that people thought of me in the first place and the work that myself and the firefighters do.”
Results
| Holiday Hero Finalist | Votes | Social shares* | Total |
| Ryan Currie | 4,622 | 1,100 | 5,722 |
| Taylor Gorrie | 2,527 | 487 | 3,014 |
| Kelly Hilton | 4,324 | 1,100 | 5,424 |
| Jessica Lachance | 1,653 | 637 | 2,290 |
| Casey Vucko | 2,427 | 119 | 2,546 |
*Social media shares are estimated based on counts provided by Facebook shares and Tweets using the Holiday Hero's story url.
The off-duty firefighters collect donations at the toy fire station located in the food court at the Intercity Mall for less fortunate children who may not have a chance to open a gift on Christmas morning.
Currie, along with his son’s hockey team, spent an entire day organizing food donations for the Christmas Cheer campaign.
The firefighter plans on splitting his winnings with each of the finalists because everybody deserves a little something for their hard work.
“To be a finalist is a pretty cool thing,” Currie said.
“I just thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to help everyone because obviously you have five special people that give back to their community and just to give back to them as well I just thought it was the right thing to do.”
Currie added that the initiative gave him the opportunity to team up with detective Const. Casey Vucko.
The left over toys from Toys for Tots will be given to Vucko, also a Holiday Hero finalist nominee, for his Little Heroes initiative.
Currie said there’s a lot of toy drives and there’s a lot of people who do a lot of charity work around this season.
“To see how much money is raised in the city of Thunder Bay in a month is just incredible and hopefully someone might do it somewhere else in another city and make the community a better place.”
