Bellevue City-Wide Toy Drive Tops 5,000 Toys

Thousands of Eastside kids will benefit from more than 5,000 toys donated to the annual Bellevue holiday Toy Drive, which this year was organized by the Bellevue Firefighters Community Support Foundation and the Bellevue Parks and Recreation Department.

The toys included 50 donated Wednesday from the . While the  winds to a close on Christmas Eve, people can donate -- and families need -- toys all year round, said Bellevue Fire Lt. Bill Evans, who is on the foundation's board.

About a dozen firefighters volunteered Wednesday to pick up the stuffed bags of toys from the Disney Store. The bags were packed with Prince Eric dolls, Lightning McQueen toys, plush Mickeys and Minnies, and stationery sets with characters from Toy Story.

Most of the toys were distributed to children, from infants to 18-year-olds, at the Crossroads Holiday Party on Dec. 13 at the  The food will be given to local food banks.

The toy and food drive is a joint effort of the Fire and Parks & Community Services departments, and donors throughout the community brought food and toys to the Bellevue Fire Departments, where they were collected. 

The logistics for the Toy Drive are organized by the Bellevue Firefighters Community Foundation, which helps families who are made homeless by fires and which organizes to help serve other community needs, and the Bellevue Parks and Recreation Department.

Donations of money were used to purchase about $500 in Fred Meyer gift cards, which were distributed to families, Evans said.