Donated toys bring smile to tots’ faces

The fire lieutenant asked for toy firetrucks for his 60th birthday.

By PATRICIA MEADE

VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — Squealing preschoolers tugged, ripped, pulled and yanked to free toy firetrucks from ironclad packaging.

“Patience!” Sister Jerome Corcoran, Millcreek Children’s Center director, told the eager little tykes. “Patience!”

One 4-year-old girl gave up and balanced the box on her head. She sat cross-legged on the floor and waited patiently for help.

Fire Lt. Marty Lipinsky to the rescue. He used both hands to rip cardboard away from the toy truck but a pesky piece of plastic fastener refused to give way.

Handing the toy back to the girl, the plastic fastener still dangling, he said: “Uh, Sister will have to fix this with a screwdriver, OK?”

That was OK with the child. She smiled. Sister Jerome fixes everything.

Lipinsky had better success ripping away packaging materials for others whose tiny fingers weren’t up to the task. He set aside one firetruck box that bore the ominous warning “assembly required,” saying he’d have to find an older child for the toy.

The firefighter (red jacket, silver hair — get the picture?) arrived at the center on Essex Street on Friday morning with 60 toy firetrucks, some with ladders, others with lights, most with whistles, bells and sirens. All the trucks that could make a noise did so as soon as the kids figured out how.

Each toy truck represents a year in the firefighter’s life.

“Rather than over-the-hill gifts for my birthday this summer, I asked friends and family for toy firetrucks,” Lipinsky explained as he donned a Santa hat and good-naturedly grumbled that it would muss his hair. “Christmas — it’s all about the kids.”

Singing a chorus of “Jingle Bells,” Lipinsky entered a classroom and announced his intentions.

“Santa’s coming later — I’m just a Youngstown firefighter,” he told the boys and girls. “You’re sharing my birthday gifts. Kinda neat, huh?”

The children grinned and clapped as Lipinsky handed out the toy trucks. Each gift was received with a polite “Thank you.”

“Use your manners,” Sister Jerome encouraged from the sidelines. “Use your manners.”

As soon as the 3- and 4-year-olds had examined their own firetruck, they started touching everybody else’s.

Sharrod Taylor, animated during the gift giveaway, turned quiet when asked if he liked his firetruck. The 4-year-old boy tucked his chin inside his turtleneck sweater and nodded a shy “Yes.”

Isaiah Bragg had no trouble expressing enthusiasm for the firetruck he received that resembles one of those chunky 9-volt flashlights with a handle. Actually, it is a chunky 9-volt flashlight with a handle that resembles a firetruck.

“Look! Cool!” the pint-sized 4-year-old said as he showed off his treasure. “A flashlight!”

“Girls and boys, put a hand up, wave and say ‘Thank you,’” Sister Jerome said after the trucks had been distributed. Lipinsky’s wife, Yvonne, snapped photos to remember the moment.

Sister Jerome said nearly all the 60 children at the center, a United Way-funded agency, qualify for a free lunch. She said their parents work, some more than one job.

Lipinsky, assigned to No. 15 Fire Station on McCollum Road, is a 22-year veteran of the fire department and a longtime United Way donor. In 2005, in a United Way contest, his name was drawn from 3,000 contributors’ entries and he won a two-year lease on a Chevrolet Cobalt.

After that, sharing his 60th birthday with kids struck him as a good idea, as a way to give back.

meade@vindy.com