Mike Wolanin | The Republic Columbus firefighters Wes Thayer, left, Mitch Tuttle construct gift delivery boxes for the Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund at the Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund building in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025.
It may be a little early in the month for Santa to come to town, but not for the Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund.
Columbus’ longest running charity will host its 95th Delivery Day at 8 a.m. today from 2674 Verhulst St., bringing toys and games to around 1,400 Bartholomew County children. Volunteers are always needed to deliver gift boxes and no registration is required.
“Honestly when it comes to volunteers, we have no idea how many are going to show up. We hope a lot, but… if we had about 100, we’d be done in about an hour and a half,” Cheer Fun co-chair Ben Noblitt said. “So we’re hoping we get close to at least 100 volunteers.”
Through Cheer Fund, about 1,400 registered kids ages 18 and younger will receive five new toys, two books, three stocking stuffers, a ball or soft item and a board game. That registered number is a little less than last year’s of 1,500, but on par for the 1,200 to 1,400 range they’ve been seeing for the past eight years, Noblitt said.
“(A) little less than last year and a little bit more than the other years but we’re ready for it,” Noblitt said. “The community’s supported us so much that we were able to get everything done again this year.”
Those volunteering will pull their cars into the Cheer Fund building this morning, which seven cars can fit in at a time, to receive their boxes and delivery addresses from seven delivery stations. Noblitt said they try to give everyone two boxes at the start if they can fit, but how many boxes and what gifts they are tasked with delivering depends on the vehicle.
“So if somebody drives a truck, we may give them a station with bicycles, so that way we can put the bicycles in the back of the truck instead of trying to fit them in a car,” Noblitt said.
Once they’ve been given their gifts and address, volunteers are off to make their deliveries, but not before Santa Claus leaves with the first box. After they deliver the boxes, volunteers will come back with a paper the recipients have signed to help keep boxes accounted for.
“Anybody that wants to come and help out, we really appreciate the help…. We can’t do what we do without the community’s support,” Noblitt said. ”It would be impossible for us to go in, pack all the boxes, raise enough money, collect enough toys to be able to do what we do without the community’s support.”
To many, the day has become a family affair, with some families having volunteered with Cheer Fund for many years. Noblitt said they see a lot of extremely grateful people when they deliver, but they don’t do it to get appreciation. Rather, he said they do it to spread joy and show that just because someone needs a little help doesn’t mean they think any less of them.
“It could be something simple, it could be a tragedy that happened in the family. To us, it doesn’t matter,” Noblitt said. “If you need a little bit of help, we’re going to be there to help. Whatever we can do to take the burden off the family that maybe has something going on that they just can’t take care of.”
