Excerpts from centralillinoisproud.com:
Peoria’s second annual Fill the Fire Truck drive will be supplying students with more than 800 backpacks filled with school supplies this year.
The initiative is a partnership between the Peoria Fire Department and the Afro-American Firefighters of Peoria. Last year they hoped to fill 50 backpacks and ended up exceeding their expectations by giving out more than 300.
This year, they more than doubled that amount of supplies, which would fill between three and four fire trucks.
Peoria Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger said he hopes to see the drive grow even larger in years to come.
The backpacks will be distributed out at Trewyn Park Thursday during the Peoria Park District’s “The Streets Belong to Me” event. The fire trucks will be there at 6 p.m.
