LPR Toys Abound for Tots
By Kris Vanacore (photos by John Reed)
We needed to find a day and time to bring the toys LPR had collected to Silicon Valley Moving and Storage, the location where we have taken the toys for the last few years. I was lucky enough to get the head honcho of the toy drive, 17 year old Joey Childs on the line. We arranged to deliver the haul on Saturday December 17 at 11am.
Joey is the son of the owner of Silicon Valley Moving and Storage. He has devoted his time working throughout most of each year collecting donations since he was 7 years old. Last year he gathered about 10,000 toys. Yep, 10,000!
Honore and John D’Angelo in their Kermit green 993, Angie and John Reed in their 911, met at our house so we could caravan to the business. What we saw when we arrived was mind-blowing!!
This year instead of taking the loot to a Toys for Tots drop off location, he had arranged for a drive-up toy distribution, on site. Joey and his many volunteers were sorting toys by age groups into several very large, wooden storage containers. You can see by the photos how many toys were in the sorting process.
We briefly interrupted the progress of these busy bees as they helped get the toys out of our car. We herded Joey over for a photo as I handed him $255 in cash for additional purchases (he supports several toy related charities.)
John and Honore had to hurry home to their new puppy, a Belguin Sheperd named Melvin. John and Angie, Tony and I went to have lunch at South Winchester BBQ – YUM!
It wasn’t until the next day that “OH NO not again” we’d forgotten the toys in the backseat. Tony ran them over to Silicon Valley Moving and Storage and was delighted to see a steady stream of cars running from the business out to the street.
Kudos to LPR members for their generosity and to Joey Childs. Such an inspiration of the holiday giving season!