It all started back in early fourth grade when we had a project for our fourth-period religion class. The purpose of the project was to come up with an idea to positively affect the community, and I came up with a toy drive. I had so much fun doing it, I wanted to do it again. So the next year, I did it again, on a bigger scale this time. And then it kept growing. It was 12,000 toys last year, 48 sponsors, and it’s expensive.

Throughout the year, I assemble a team of collaborators and collect new toys for less fortunate children all across the Bay Area. We partner with schools, churches, local businesses, and non-profit organizations to organize drives and collect toys. These new toys are then distributed through events that I host in local communities throughout the Bay Area. However, with these large operations which span months of planning and involve multiple coordinated efforts, I have also experienced some challenges. Most notably, Covid-19 proved to be a large obstacle in organizing the toy drive. As the global pandemic spread, people’s financial situations worsened, leading to both a drop in donations and a higher demand for toys. The ultimate goal has always been to help the most families I possibly can, so encountering something that could jeopardize this was challenging. I contacted large corporations such as Amazon and Walmart to try and obtain overstock and donations to fulfill these local families’ wishes. In the end, my team and I persevered through these hardships and tried our best to help as many families and children as we could. 

One child in particular stood out to me. In December of 2019, a devastating wildfire ravaged the northern Californian city of Paradise. Christmas was right around the corner, so to provide some relief and comfort to the Paradise residents, I organized a joint operation with a local non-profit organization to collect toys to give out. There, I met Ana, a three-year-old, who was the sweetest child and followed me around everywhere, even showing me her favorite teddy bear. Ana’s family lost almost everything to the wildfire, so making her Christmas better, despite her inability to understand the community’s circumstances, warmed my heart and made me truly believe I was making a difference.

I’ve learned a lot of things. My effort of 12 years of running this toy drive, it’s definitely made me a better person. It made me more sensible, taught me how to talk to people, to appreciate the things I’m given, and to understand other peoples’ problems. I’ve learned a lot in a literal sense, in terms of organizing projects and teams and leading people. It gives me a great sense of fulfillment too, so I am definitely much happier as a person and very grateful for the things I have.

I have a sister, Brooke; she’s a sophomore. She’s been heavily involved with the toy drive for all these years, she knows the process, the operations. She will continue to run the physical aspect, but a lot of it is coordination, and I will still do the majority and do anything I can to help. I will also fly back for events.

I always feel like I can do better, that I can help more families: that’s the goal. I love it, I love every minute of it. I’m so incredibly grateful for everyone who helps and participates. Honestly, my name is on the front page of it, but it’s not just me. It’s a large group of people, it’s a big effort, lots of volunteers, lots of hours, and I’ll never take credit for something that everybody else does too.