by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Neil Bueckers has been living in Sauk Rapids for 23 years. For 22 of those years he has volunteered with the Sauk Rapids Fire Department. And for about 15 of those years he has been running a Toys for Tots drive.
The fire department will host a Toys for Tots drive from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5 behind the fire hall at 408 Benton Drive N. The fire department will also collect toys as they drive through the eighth annual Holiday Parade of Lights at 5 p.m. the same night along Second Avenue.
“If we can help people fight fires or help people in the community in some way and make things a little easier for them, that’s what it’s all about,” Bueckers said in a Sauk Rapids-Rice Newsleader interview.
Bueckers was involved in charity and volunteer work at an early age, helping out at parish festivals and fundraisers.
He is originally from Freeport, and as a boy had always dreamed of being a firefighter while watching the trucks roll in or out of the fire hall. When he moved to Sauk Rapids with his wife, Sandy, he joined the fire department after neighbor, Dick Turch, asked him.
“He came down and said, ‘We’re looking for another guy on the fire department, do you want to join us?’ So, I looked at my wife and she said, ‘It’s always been a dream of yours.’ So, I filled out the application,” Bueckers said.
The Bueckerses have two children – Ashley and Matthew.
“Our kids would help out with the fire department and church fundraisers,” Bueckers said.
The Toys for Tots collection was started by Bueckers with the backing of the fire department, and financial help from C and L Distributing, who supplied cookies and hot cocoa. Bueckers said they now get the hot cocoa at a discount from Coborn’s, and supply everything else themselves.
Eventually, the Toys for Tots collection began to be held the day of the Parade of Lights.
Bueckers said his daughter Ashley helped start the Sauk Rapids Holiday Parade of Lights, which is now run by the Sauk Rapids Ambassadors program. Ashley was the second princess in the Miss Sauk Rapids pageant about eight years ago.
Throughout the years, the toys have started to be exclusively donated to Catholic Charities.
“My wife and I volunteer at Catholic Charities through our church, Sacred Heart in Sauk Rapids, about once a month throughout the year and more often in October,” Bueckers said. “Catholic Charities keeps the toys really local.”
Only people in the following communities can receive toys from the Catholic Charities distribution: Sauk Rapids, Rice, Sartell, St. Stephen, St. Joseph, St. Cloud, St. Augusta, Waite Park, Eden Valley, Watkins and Kimball.
Bueckers said the amount of toys they collect each year varies. Before the economic downturn they could fill two pickup truck beds. In recent years, it’s been just one pickup, but last year they just barely fit it all in.
People can donate new, unwrapped toys to the Toys for Tots drive at the back of the Sauk Rapids Fire Hall from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, or you can donate to the fire department as they drive down the parade route on Second Avenue at 5 p.m. that same night. The fire department will have members walking the route, collecting toys and placing them in a truck.
“Be generous during the holiday season,” Bueckers implored. “There are a lot of people out there in need.”
If you can’t donate on Dec. 5, you can drop off toys at Catholic Charities emergency services at 157 Roosevelt Road, St. Cloud, at donation door D, between 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday or from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Family Fun Day
Besides the Toys for Tots drive at the fire hall and the Parade of Lights, the 2015 Sauk Rapids Ambassadors Kelsey Christensen, Tana Hendrickson and Nikki Bukowski invite children to join them Dec. 5 at the Sauk Rapids VFW Post 6992, at 901 N. Benton Drive, for a day of fun including kids bingo from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and Santa and Mrs. Claus from 2-3:30 p.m. A Trots for Tots 5K Run will also be held at 3 p.m., starting and finishing at the fire hall. Also, a live nativity scene, sponsored by Living Waters Lutheran Church, will be portrayed from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Coborn’s parking lot, 110 First St. S.
Neil Bueckers put large signs for the Toys for Tots drive around the Sauk Rapids Fire Hall at 408 N. Benton Drive. Bueckers also posted smaller posters as well as solicited local radio stations to advertise the toy drop-off, which will be held at the back of the building Dec. 5.
