THUNDER BAY -- For the city’s Holiday Heroes, the gift of giving has always played a huge role in each of their lives.
During the Holiday Hero initiative Thunder Bay Firefighter Ryan Currie had the chance to connect Toys for Tots with detective constable Casey Vucko’s Little Heroes initiative.
The left over toys collected at the toy fire station in the food court at the Intercity Mall throughout the holidays were passed along to Vucko for the children in the Pediatric Unit at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
I’m looking forward to working with Casey and getting the extra toys over to the children at the hospital,” Currie said.
“We are also thinking about getting together and doing something special at the hospital with the firefighters, police and other first responders.”
He added that there’s already been some discussion and Christmas time is a big deal for toys and children in the hospital.
Currie’s hoping for a joint adventure for the next holiday season, but for now they are in the process of figuring out Vucko’s next hospital visit with the extra Toys for Tots toys.
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 received the title of tbnewswatch.com's 2016 Holiday Hero and a $1,000 cash prize, which he decided to share among the other finalists.
“It was a pretty easy decision for me when you have four other great people in the community who do wonderful things,” he said.
“They are four great people and they do wonderful things and spend a lot of time and effort with what they are passionate about, so to give back to them it was a no brainer.”
Currie donated his $200 to the Christmas Cheer campaign because giving back to them and all the wonderful work they do was the perfect option.
Vucko was happy to have a fellow emergency responder win the hearts of thousands of people, but he would be ecstatic if any of the nominees had won.
“It was cool to see how much the community appreciates the people that give to the community,” he said.
Vucko added with the money donation from Currie he plans on buying more toys for his initiative, so he can make another trip to the hospital.
He will be also donating money to the Thunder Bay Police Youth Corps because it prepares youth for their role as community members.
“To see kids lighten up, smile and have so much fun was an awesome part of the initiative…I can’t put into words how fun it was and I can’t wait to do it again.”
Taylorpedia’s Taylor Gorrie said it was overwhelming to realize how many people support what I do.
Gorrie created an initiative called Safe Zone, a community group based within elementary schools that works hand in hand with the Confederation College child and youth program to educate both the victims and the bullies.
“It felt amazing to get so much support because you don’t know these people but everybody knows you,” she said.
Gorrie’s thrilled to be able to donate money to Camp Quality because they help so many kids who have been diagnosed with cancer.
“That’s important to me because I know that they are a great place and I believe they will need the money at some point.”
Finalist Kelly Hilton donated her money to her cub, scout and ventures groups along with other organizations she devotes her time and Jessica Lachance donated $200 to the Dew Drop Inn.
