JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) – It’s an 85-year-old tradition that a handful of firefighters and a generous community refuse to let die.
The annual ‘Santa Bombero’ toy giveaway for needy children will start at 8 a.m. on Dec. 23 in a parking lot near the Juarez soccer stadium a couple of hundred yards from the U.S. border wall.
“It’s very labor intensive – sorting, repairing, packing toys,” says Juarez Fire Department Sgt. Alejandro Aguero. “But when you hand them out you see the happiness of the children and you feel great satisfaction.”
This is the third year Aguero volunteered for Santa duty at a fire station near the Juarez Chamizal Park. Large cardboard boxes of donated new and “semi-new” dolls, stuffed animals, board games, and assorted playthings arrive daily. But it’s bicycles that usually require at least some repairs that children crave the most.
On Wednesday, Aguero and half a dozen peers laid out screwdrivers, nuts, bolts, inner tubes, and patches to fix the two-wheeled wonders. The sanding and painting will come later.
Team leader and Fire Capt. Jorge Puentes said Juarez firefighters got into the Santa Claus business by happenstance.
It was 1939 when a child approached a fire station near the Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral to ask for a toy. Fire Chief Leonardo Solis Barraza told the boy firemen didn’t have toys laying around… then he told the child to return on Christmas.
Solis spent the next few weeks calling on government and business leaders to explain his idea and got the green light to fill a void in a city with a lot of needs.
Puentes said lines of moms bringing their children to get a toy began to build on Christmas Eve and sometimes even earlier back in the day. Overnight temperatures often plummeted, and the firefighters did their best to provide comfort for families that refused to give up their place in line.
Juarez has progressed much since, but many families still live in poverty and Santa Bombero has identified new needs.
“Children with (special needs) get priority. Everyone else in line gets a bag with three, four, five toys,” Puentes said. “We still ask the community for new toys or toys in good condition. The bicycles we repair, and if we can’t repair them, we use them for parts. Just don’t bring war toys to not to encourage violence among the children.”
Puentes said businesses and Juarez residents are the primary donors to the Santa Bombero campaign. El Pasoans and residents of southern New Mexico also make donations, though it’s not a good idea to try to bring a truckload of toys across the international bridges.
“It’s best to avoid issues with (Mexican) customs. You can buy something in Juarez and drop it off at one of our fire stations or at boxes we have at shopping centers,” Puentes said. “If you are bringing something (across the bridge) call us so we can help you (with the permits).”
For more information, call Puentes from the U.S. at (011-52) 656-737-0997.
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