BOY DONATING DOLL TO HELP OUT FIREFIGHTERS' FAMILIES.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Twelve-year-old Tim Holmes was born with cerebral palsy and has undergone brain surgery twice at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

So news of last week's chopper crash that killed a little girl and three Los Angeles firefighters en route to the hospital hit home for the Newhall boy and his mother.

He wanted to do something for the families of the fallen paramedic, Michael Butler, who lived in Canyon Country, and for Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Joseph Dupee of Valencia, who died earlier in March in a blaze.

``He spends a lot of time at Childrens Hospital,'' Lee Ann Holmes said of her son. ``He's always very concerned with other people and very empathetic. The one family had a 10-day-old baby. I think that really got to him. Now that baby doesn't have a dad.''

Tim and his mother decided they could raise money by raffling off one of the boy's treasures - a Princess Diana Beanie Baby.

Tim recently had bought one of the commemorative stuffed animals named for the late Princess of Wales. The royal purple bear, embroidered with a white rose, is a favorite of collectors, many of whom search for sellers via the Internet and are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for the doll.

Since Tim had bought the Princess Diana bear at Victoria's Cottage in Newhall, his mother approached the owners about organizing an auction to sell the Beanie Baby to raise money for the fallen firefighters. Daniel Cota, owner of the store and two other sites in Canyon Country and Woodland Hills, said the company is glad to help out.

``We feel a very strong part of the community. That's why we wanted to get involved and help these firefighters, because they do a great job,'' said Cota, whose three grown sons graduated from Saugus High School.

Victoria's Cottage expects to begin selling raffle tickets - $2 each, or three for $5 - next week. Sandra Cota, Daniel's wife, said the drawing is scheduled to be held May 2.

``We would probably ask Lee Ann's little boy to draw'' the winning tickets, Cota added.

To attract more bidders, Victoria's Cottage also will add some of its merchandise to the raffle, putting together some second- and third-place prizes of Beanie Babies, including a trio of rabbits named Hippity, Hoppity and Floppity, and a special Christmas bear Beanie Baby, Cota said.

Tickets will be sold at all three Victoria's Cottage locations: 22722 Lyons Ave. in Newhall, 19322 Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country and 21767 Ventura Blvd. in Woodland Hills.

Tim, a sixth-grader schooled at home, said he was happy to part with the Princess Diana bear, part of a personal Beanie Baby collection that numbers about 60 stuffed animals, he said.

He had been on a waiting list to buy the bear since its release in December, Holmes added.

On the Internet, collectors bid anywhere from $100 to $250 to buy Princess Diana bears.

Until last month, the Los Angeles Fire Department hadn't had a death in the line of duty in 14 years. All that changed in March, when four firefighters - two of them from the Santa Clarita Valley - perished.

The Santa Clarita Valley is home to numerous police officers, sheriff's deputies and firefighters, a tight-knit professional fraternity in a close-knit community.

Lee Ann Holmes said she wanted to channel the community's sadness into a charitable effort that would reap positive results for the families of the late firefighters.

Dupee, 38, died fighting a March 8 fire in Los Angeles, and Butler, 33, was killed in the March 23 crash of a helicopter ambulance near Griffith Park.

Butler, a 13-year LAFD veteran, is survived by a wife who is four months pregnant. Dupee, who had 17 years in the department, left behind a wife, a 2-year-old son and an infant son who was born on Dupee's birthday.

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PHOTO (color) Tim Holmes, 12, with his mother, Lee Ann, has donated his special edition Princess Diana Beanie Baby to a charity auction.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News