For a second consecutive year, I spent an hour or so with Baltimore firefighters and watched them hand out toys to needy children. Their holiday giving has now expanded beyond homes and hospitals to the House of Ruth.

That's where firefighters with Truck 29 were on Wednesday. Excited kids climbed over the truck, heard a safey lesson and then grabbed toys. They're at the shelter with their mom who are escaping abusive relationships.

The firefighters were told not to ask the kids why they were there and names and pictures of the children and their moms were not allow. This picture shows Firefighter Michael Hineline, who heads the department's special events section, helping members of Truck 29 put toys on the table.

Hineline said all the new gifts are donated by firefighters, and that the department even "adopted" a 7-year-old boy and son of a Las Vegas firefighter. The boy was at Johns Hopkins Hospital this week getting extention in his leg; he has Dwarfism.

On Saturday, Hineline took the child to the National Aquarium and the Hard Rock Cafe at the Inner Harbor. On Monday, the boy successfully underwent surgery and is expected to be home this week.

Said Deputy Fire Chief Raymand Devilbiss, who has spent 39 years with the department, "I find myself wondering if I appreciate my own blessings."