By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

HOOVER – Brothers Graham, Cole and Eli Hinds walked back and forth between a Hoover Fire Department trailer and another truck parked in a storage warehouse at the Hoover Public Safety Center on Dec. 23, helping department officials and Alabama National Guard members load the truck with toys for children this Christmas.

“I feel great about it,” Graham, 9, said afterward. “Most of the bags had stuffed animals.”

Graham and his brothers accompanied their father, Hoover Fire Department Capt. Nathan Hinds, to the center on the morning of Dec. 23 to help load the last haul of toys and bicycles area residents donated for children of military men and women.

“For the past several years, the Hoover Fire Department has partnered with the Alabama National Guard at Christmas to collect toys for children of active duty military personnel,” Hoover Fire Department Public Information Officer Rusty Lowe wrote in a Dec. 21 press release. “Operation Santa’s Helper (formerly Operation Grateful Heart) has been very successful to assist these families and this year we have been able to help almost 400 children so far with presents.”

The truck was bound for Montgomery, where the toys were to be sorted and distributed to children before Christmas Eve.

In 2014, the toy drive helped 306 children.

As of a few weeks ago, toys donated were estimated to help 394 children, 351 who are from Army National Guard, 12 who are from Air National Guard and 31 who are from total community outreach (for victims of fire, youth in need from organizations the department works with), Hinds said.

“It was good, probably our best year yet,” he said of this year’s drive.

Officials said the third and final batch of toys loaded on Dec. 23 seemed to be enough to raise the number of children benefiting from the drive to 500, a “big boost from last year,” Lowe said.

Fifteen fire stations, including Rocky Ridge and North Shelby, served as drop-off points for toy donations.

“The people in Hoover have always stepped up and brought nice, new toys,” Hoover Fire Department Chief of Training Ricky Patterson said. “They trust us to get these toys to needy kids. It’s something that makes us all feel wonderful.”

PetSmart on Lorna Road donated hundreds of stuffed animals, Lowe said.

The drive started between 10 and 14 years ago, during former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley’s term, he said.

“This is a good haul,” Hoover Fire Chief John Wingate said as the truck prepared to leave the center.