LFCA to donate toys to Ronald McDonald House

By Lethbridge Herald on January 16, 2026.

Herald photo by ALejandra Pulido-GUZMAN President David Skilling and Vice President Blake Olson, with the Lethbridge Firefighters Charities Association, will be delivering toys and welcome packages for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House located near the ChildrenÕs Hospital in Calgary.

By Alejandro Pulido-Guzman

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Firefighters Charities Association (LFCA) will be donating toys and welcome packages for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House located near the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. 

After Blake Olson, vice president of the association found himself using the Ronald McDonald House with his family in 2021, he made it his mission to give back in any way he and his family could, so this year he decided to ask for the association’s help. 

The Lethbridge Firefighters Charities Association is run by local 237 firefighters and families within Lethbridge. They take part in several initiatives throughout the year to raise money to give back to local community members and families in need. 

“In 2021, my daughter became ill with a critical illness. She ended up being rushed to Alberta Children’s Hospital. We were very fortunate to be able to stay in the Ronald McDonald House and stayed there for about a month,” said Olson. 

He explained that the stay led them right into Christmas and their experience at the Ronald McDonald House was something that became near and dear to them. 

“Our oldest was four years old, so one parent was in the hospital and because Ronald McDonald House was down the street, we were able to exchange parental time at the front doors of the hospital, explain what happened in the last 24 hours to our critically ill child and then walk back,” said Olson. 

He said there was something going on all the time and being able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House made the four-year-old have a good experience. 

“And when our youngest was discharged from the hospital, she got to spend a better part of the day at Ronald McDonald House, and it was memorable. We still talk about it,” said Olson. 

He said that even though he hopes to never have to go back to the Ronald McDonald House, he wants to make sure those who will have some toys to play with and the parents have what they need as well. 

“They provided everything that was normalcy for us, and it was a very big deal. My wife and I went out of our way to try and give back to them and as part of the Lethbridge Firefighters Charities Association, we were able to get $2,000 together to purchase toys,” said Olson. 

He explained that the Ronald McDonald House Charities depletes their toy volumes during the Christmas season, and they were hoping to restock their magic room through this event. 

“When you are discharged from the Ronald McDonald House, the injured or ill child gets to visit the magic room, which is super special and super cool,” said Olson. “It’s a castle/dragon theme. They spend an hour and a half there and when it’s done, they get to pick a toy that’s meaningful for them to take home.” 

He said a big portion of those toys will be donated to the Magic Room, while others will be used as prizes for the various activities the Ronald McDonald House Charities does throughout the week for families staying there. 

“Tuesdays are bingo nights. Some of these toys will end up as prizes for bingo events, for the family, for siblings, for other stuff. They’re going to go to be used however they see fit,” said Olson. 

He also mentioned that when families first check in to stay at the Ronald McDonald House they are provided with a welcome package, which helps provide normalcy, and they have included some of those in their donation. 

“The bags that you see behind me is our gift to the parents when they arrived because we found out very quickly what we were missing,” said Olson. “So, there’s some stuff for siblings, for mommy pampering, daddy pampering and stuff that we found that was very critical for us when we first arrived.” 

President of the Lethbridge Firefighters Charities Association, David Skilling said the initiative was solely started by the Olson family and they were excited to join and partner with them. 

“This was money that we had raised through previous initiatives and we’re happy to be able to give to them,” said Skilling. “I feel truly blessed to be able to use this job as a platform to be able to get back within our community.”

He said that to be able to connect with community outside of emergency services, tie that back into charity and to be able to give back in a different way, it is truly special and rewarding. 

“We have a group that’s going to be going up and we are very excited. We’re going to be able to tour the Ronald McDonald House and meet the staff up there and see first-hand the amazing work that they are doing,” said Skilling.