Making a Difference

 In 2002, Bourne Firefighter/Paramedic Craig Poirier came up with an idea to collect food and toys during the holiday season for his community. He decided he was going to sleep outside in mid December to raise awareness on homelessness. He reached out to his friends at radio station Pixy 103, and with the help of his family, friends, and fellow firefighters, they began sleeping out. Over the past 17 years we have collected 70,580,lbs of food, 59,530 toys, 24,362 food items and $365,500.60 from Bourne to Brewster. Through the past few years, the Bourne Police Officers, and the JBCC Firefighters, have joined us out on Main Street Buzzards Bay. Each year, more and more police and fire departments are getting involved with this program. We now have over a dozen departments sleeping outside in mid December for a continuous 103 hours collecting nonperishable foods, toys for the “Toys For Tots Foundation”, and cash donations for their respected communities.