Thanks to the thoughtfulness of third grader Marissa Lackey, more than 100 children in need will have a brand new toy to unwrap this Christmas.
After seeing a story on the news about Toys for Tots, the Tamarac Elementary School student asked her teacher if they could organize a collection at school.
“I thought it was a good idea because we get a lot of presents but a lot of kids don’t,” Marissa explained.
Teacher Wendy Tarricone said she was impressed by her student’s thoughtfulness. But with only a week to collect toy donations, she wondered how many toys they could collect.
But Marissa and her classmates ran with the idea, putting out reminder notes to the entire school and talking about their efforts over the morning announcements. Students then went class to class with a wagon to collect the toys.
After just a week the students had collected
116 new toys for Toys for Tots.
“This fit right in with our class theme of kindness,” Mrs. Tarricone said, marveling at the collection the students organized.
Principal Karen Lederman also was moved by the students’ thoughtfulness for those less fortunate than themselves.
“We had students who wanted to donate their own toys,” Mrs. Lederman noted. “It was just wonderful.”
