Family of fallen FDNY firefighters take over FAO Schwarz in annual holiday ‘shopping spree’

The family of fallen New York City firefighters turned out for the FDNY’s annual “Shopping Spree” at FAO Schwarz Sunday and made off with bags of holiday loot — along with some lifelong memories, too.

“I saw Santa and I got a purse. It’s good,” said 6-year-old Charlotte, one of numerous kids who have lost their FDNY parents and were heaped with gifts at the annual event.

“There was a case upstairs with a fireman’s hat in it and the fireman’s hat had 325 on it. That’s my dad’s engine,” her 8-year-old brother Joseph said about their father, Joseph Mulvey.

The entire Midtown toy store was shut down for the kids, who were each given $200 gift cards and allowed to run free through its hallowed aisles and buy whatever they wanted.

Santa also made an appearance and gave every kid who wanted one a ride around the block on an FDNY fire engine. Kids were even brought up in the engine’s bucket to look out over Rockefeller Center alongside the towering Christmas tree.

The event was hosted by the FDNY-Uniformed Firefighters Association Widows & Children’s Fund, and for decades has been providing gifts to kids whose firefighting parents have passed.

The event has been a holiday lifeline for many FDNY families — with kids often growing up to give back as volunteers.

“My kids started giving back as they grew up, wrapping gifts, volunteering,” said Eileen Bellew, whose husband John died at 37 in the infamous 2005 Bronx tenement fire known as “Black Sunday.”

“As we received we moved into giving. We like to give back because we received so much from this event,” Bellew added, explaining she and her four kids haven’t missed the event in 20 years.

And for many kids, the day is about so much more than the toys.