First 'Gifts for Teens' collection parade takes off Monday night

GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — The Green Bay Metro Fire Department is ready to help hundreds of Brown County teens this holiday season with an annual program.

This is the tenth year the GBMFD will put on its 'Gifts for Teens' program, which collects presents and monetary donations for teenagers receiving Christmas assistance through the Salvation Army.

The department hosted the first of eight collection parades from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through the Christa McAuliffe Park district. People listened to Christmas music as firefighters escorted Santa's sleigh through the neighborhood. Members collected physical and monetary donations from the community throughout the route.

Chris Laabs and her family member, Ella Grace, donated a nail art kit and two craft kits to the program during the parade Monday night.

“We like to share Christmas with the people that maybe can’t have a Christmas," Laabs said.

GBMFD raised more than $30,000 in 2019, an amount they hope to beat this year.

"Each year we have about 2,000 teens in the county that need help," said Chad Decker, Green Bay Metro Fire Department engineer and paramedic. "In 2019, the last year we had our parades, we were very, very close. We were just about 100 gifts off. So if we could pull that off this year, man oh man, we'd really be rescuing Christmas."

If people miss the parades, they can also donate by dropping off a new, unwrapped gift at any of the Green Bay fire stations. Gift can also be ordered online and shipped to GBMFD Station 5, located at 2310 Finger Rd. Monetary donations can be made online via Paypal.

To view this year's parade routes, click here.