(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. -Firefighters with Spokane County Fire District 8 are making sure that every child has a present to unwrap this holiday season. They’re raising money and getting toy donations for Toys for Tots and it’s in the name of two teenage girls who were taken too soon.
James Smock says they do this every year.
“We started off initially as raising money for Toys for Tots in the name of Josie and McKenzie who perished in a car accident a few years back and since then it's continued to grow,” Smock says.
The two University High students lost their lives in 2013 after a crash in the Ponderosa neighborhood. They were well-loved in the community, and taken too soon.
“It definitely hits in the soft spot and as a parent it hits you that much harder,” he says.
So the firefighters and the community came together and have come together every year to help the memory of the two girls live on.
“They were very much into the Toys for Tots program so we just kind of continued on with that legacy and that's why we do it in their name just to try to keep their memory with us,” he says.
If you do want to help donate still, you can do so at Fire District 8 stations.
“Knowing that every toy is going to a child that is less fortunate definitely warms our heart,” Smock says.