BELTON—Hundreds of Central Texas children will have new toys to play with this Christmas, thanks to students from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
For the eighth year, UMHB students in the Sports Medicine Association partnered with Toys for Tots of Waco to provide new toys for underprivileged children in the region.
|
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor senior Whitney Rodgers (left) and junior Tara Humphrey work to make Toys for Tots a reality this Christmas as they place toys in the collection box on campus. (PHOTO/Carol Woodward/UMHB)
|
The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve organizes Toys for Tots each year. In 1991, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation was created and has provided the funding for the program ever since. Since the foundation was created, it has supplemented local toy collections with 81.3 million toys.
Billy Laxton, head athletic trainer at UMHB, sees the Toys for Tots program as a perfect opportunity to help athletic training students serve others.
“We wanted to do something positive for the community. Eight years ago, no one in this area was working with this toy drive, and it was at the height of deployment to the Middle East, so it just seemed like a good fit,” said Laxton.
“The Marine Corps Reserve brings us boxes every year, and we do our best to fill them up with new toys. In recent years we’ve had such a good turnout, they had to bring us more boxes, because we had so many toys.”
Laxton continues to be surprised by the amount of toys received from the Temple and Belton area.
“We get anywhere from 80 to 160 toys each year,” he said. “I’m just inspired and overwhelmed by people’s continued generosity.”
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
Whitney Rodgers, a senior athletic training major and president of the group, donates to the cause every year.
“I just went out and bought like 20 toys,” said Rodgers. “It’s our way to give back. It’s better to get a new toy than a hand-me-down.”
Junior athletic training major Tara Humphrey plans to continue to participate in the Toys for Tots drive in the future.
“I think Toys for Tots is a great cause,” said Humphrey. “It gives children a chance to have a good Christmas. And after all, isn’t the true gift of Christmas giving rather than receiving?”
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.