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Civil Air Patrol collects toys for kids in Belleville

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Greg Hoffeditz
  • Civil Air Patrol Public Affairs Officer
Belleville, Ill --  When a request came in for assistance to collect stuffed toys for children attending the annual Santa Parade in Belleville, Ill., the Civil Air Patrol's Scott Composite Squadron flew into action.

For the past four years, Stell Family and Friends, a private, nonprofit family program, has collected stuffed toy donations to hand out during the parade. The idea came from family members who saw that some children were not allowed to have the candy being tossed to them because of various medical issues. Since its inception, the family-run program has handed out approximately 20,000 stuffed-animals and toys donated by individuals and corporations. This year, however, the family achieved less than 50 percent of its goal of 5,000 items. Advertising funds had to be diverted due to a sudden death in the family.
Word of the shortage reached the Scott squadron a mere week before the event. In that short period, cadets and seniors collected well over 200 stuffed toys, large and small, to donate to the charitable program.

Coordinator Penny Stell said the family was "deeply touched by the generosity of the CAP members at Scott AFB."

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 113 lives in fiscal year 2010. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 26,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 69 years. It is the largest sponsor annually of Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. For more information on Civil Air Patrol, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or www.capvolunteernow.com.