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Staff Writer

Spring Lake Park-Blaine-Mounds View Fire Department firefighters carried a secret weapon on ladder trucks when they started their annual Santa Run food drive Dec. 7.

This year, eight members of the women’s U.S. Olympic hockey team helped to make the season bright for families racing out to meet the trucks and donate non-perishable food items for local food shelves.

Why, a pair of teammates, Gigi Marvin and Julie Chu, even donned Santa’s gay apparel and then rode along atop the trucks Monday evening, greeting neighbors with a jolly “Ho! Ho! Ho!” and distributing candy canes to the little ones.

For more than 30 years, firefighters of the SBM Fire Department have made an annual tour through area communities to collect non-perishable food items for local food shelves.

Last year, the department collected more than 14,000 pounds of food. This year hopes are high as economic hurdles put more and more families in need of assistance. “This is really a big deal for SBM – getting food for the food shelves. We’re always glad to help out and this year to have the hockey players help out, too – that’s really great,” said Blaine patrol officer Gordon Fiske.

Throughout the week of Dec. 7, the SBM Santa Run took place in neighborhoods in Mounds View, Spring Lake Park and Blaine. Food collected was then distributed to food shelves serving Anoka County.


Sue Austreng is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it