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ABC 27 News Video on Riley’s Toys Foundation During Zimbabwe Toy Launch!August 26th, 20103,000 Toys Launch for Zimbabwe and ABC27 Interviews Riley’s ToysAugust 24th, 2010Around 3,000 Toys Are Now Headed to Zimbabwe, thanks to you and Riley’s Toys FoundationYesterday, with your help, we loaded around 3,000 toys onto a tractor trailer truck which will take them to our partners at World Vision. There they’ll be packaged and shipped to Zimbabwe! We think that is pretty special and thank you if you’ve gotten involved in our effort so far, YOU really help make this possible. – And if you haven’t gotten involved yet, there is no time like the present to find out more about what we do and to help. But that is only half-of the story!! ABC27’s Flora Posteraro Interviews Riley and Rhonda Hebbard – the piece should air tonight at 5:00 pm!Also yesterday, the local ABC affiliate WHTM allowed Flora Posteraro to visit us during the launch. She interviewed Riley and Rhonda about Riley’s Toys Foundation, how it all started and what it means to us and the orphan children in Africa. You can watch WHTM ABC27 tonight at 5:00 pm to see the interview with Flora Posteraro. Here are a few photos from our launch yesterday.  Interview with ABC27  Riley of Riley's Toys Foundation helps load toys for Zimbabwe (Mon. Aug. 23)  Riley's Toys Foundation Sends New and Gently Used Toys to Orphaned Children in Africa  Seven full pallets - around 3,000 toys - were launched for Zimbabwe  Toy Launch for Zimbabwe - They should arrive just in time for Christmas! Physical Fitness and Toys; It’s all Child’s PlayAugust 19th, 2010
Justin Bowers, certified personal trainer, specialist in Performance Nutrition and co-owner of Synergy Fitness, supports Riley’s Toys Foundation. “At Synergy Fitness we are dedicated to changing lives…one session, one toy at a time” says Bowers. Riley’s Toys Foundation is founded on an idea from then four-year-old Riley Hebbard. In February 2009 she watched a news show that featured children in an African school that had no toys. Riley could not believe that these children had only ‘sticks and dirt’ to play with and decided to send some of her toys to them. She enlisted her preschool friends to do the same thing. She added collection sites around her hometown and partnered with The US Jaycees to take the project to a national level. The partnership with Synergy Fitness will extend beyond the grand opening, “We will maintain a toy collection box in the reception area and will sell Riley’s Toys Foundation bracelets for $1 each. All the proceeds will benefit the foundation, so they can continue making a difference in the lives of children, while Synergy makes a difference in the lives of the donors” says Kevin Tucker, co-owner at Synergy. “I love to go to Synergy Fitness with my mom,” says Riley Hebbard, 6-year old philanthropist. “They are really nice there and they help people. That’s what I like to do too!” Last year Riley’s Toys Foundation collected and shipped 3,500 toys to the needy and orphaned children in Africa. Those toys, plus the matching gift from Hasbro benefited children in Lesotho and Zambia. “The partnership with Synergy will help us to achieve our goal of collecting 7,000 toys in 2010 which we expect to be destined for Zimbabwe” says Rhonda Hebbard, Riley’s mom. “We really appreciate the support from Synergy Fitness. A project of this nature takes a community to be successful. We thank Justin and Kevin for helping with our success!” Synergy Fitness, located in Mechanicsburg, PA, was started by Justin Bowers, certified personal trainer and specialist in Performance Nutrition and Kevin Tucker. The mission of the organization is to change lives, one session at a time. For more information, please visit www.synergyfitnesspt.com Toys: a Rare & Precious Gift for Orphaned ChildrenAugust 11th, 2010By Pamela Hamasaka – Communications Manager Best friends Lister Banda, 8, and Maria Mwanza, 7, have never known what it feels like to grow up in a normal home surrounded by a mother, father and siblings. They are part of a bigger family of 143 orphaned children that have grown up at Home of Hope, an orphanage run by Missionaries of Charity. Both Lister and Maria were born HIV positive. Like most orphans at the Home, their mothers died at a hospice operated by the missionary and located within the same premises. “We like it here because we have a lot of friends to play with. Maria is my best friend but I have others like Ruth, Tamara, Pele, Jenifer, Natasha and Christine, says Lister beaming. As they sit on their little red chairs in the centre of their sleeping area, surrounded by their small blue beds, to receive their morning lessons from their teacher, Petronella, they each playfully hold on to a toy in their hands. “Every morning after breakfast we have our classes. Teacher Petronella teaches us how to read and write. We also sing songs, we also do some painting,” adds Maria. Because Maria and Lister are among the 21 children that are not yet enrolled at the Missionaries of Charity Community School located away from the Home, they receive lessons from 08:00am to 12:00am every day at the orphanage. The rest of the day is reserved for play. “When our lessons are over, we have lunch and then we go out to play with our friends. We play hop scotch, “touch” and skipping most of the time,” explains Maria. But play time has become more fun and exciting for Lister and Maria after they recently received a variety of toys from World Vision for the first time in their lives. “For the first time, I have a toy that is mine to play with and many more to share with my friends. We only used to play the same games all the time, but now we have new and exciting ones,” says Lister. “Pink is my favorite color so I was so happy to see so many pink toys like dolls, toy plates, cups. I don’t think I will open my packet of toys because I fear that I will lose them. I don’t think we will ever get some more,” adds Maria as she clutches her small pack of toys close to her chest. Maria’s fear is real and is echoed by Sister Maria Sonia who runs the orphanage and hospice at Home of Hope. “Toys are never on our priority list because we have so many needs, so we can only get these when well-wishers and partners like World Vision donate them for the children,” say Sister Maria. In addition to providing food, clothing, beddings, school materials and other essential commodities for the orphanage, hospice and community school, Sister Maria has to take care of medication for 95% of the children who are HIV positive. “We live on donations here and so it is not easy to meet the over K100, 000,000 (US$ 22,727) monthly budget to run this home. We simply depend on divine providence,” she points out. According to Sister Maria, she feels so lucky that World Vision chose to donate the toys to Home of Hope when there were so many other charitable organizations in need of assistance. “I want to thank World Vision for this rare privilege because for the first time in 21 years of our existence, we have plenty toys for children to play with. We now even have some in the nursery for the 45 babies aged between zero to 1 year,” says Sister Maria thankfully. Life in an orphanage, with HIV, may have denied Maria and Lister parental care but it has not prevented them from dreaming about their future. Maria wants to be a teacher when she grows up while Lister wants to be a Sister (Nun). “I want to look after children like me who have no parents, just like the way Sister Maria looks after us. I will make them happy by giving them food, clothes and toys to play with, says Lister with a big smile. Riley’s Toys Foundation is a certified 501C3. We partner with World Vision to ensure successful toy delivery.You can help Riley achieve her goal of getting one toy to every child in Africa by making a donation TODAY. To find out more about how you can get involved please visit the other pages of our website or visit us on Facebook or Twitter. And thank you. 2nd Annual Summer Toy Drive to benefit Orphaned and Refugee Children in AfricaJuly 15th, 2010Mechanicsburg, PA Riley’s Toys Foundation has launched its 2nd Annual Summer Toy Drive to benefit needy and orphaned children in Africa. Riley’s Toys Foundation is founded on an idea from then four-year-old Riley Hebbard. In February 2009 she watched a news show that featured children in an African school that had no toys. Riley could not believe that these children had only ‘sticks, rocks and dirt’ to play with and decided to send her toys to them. She enlisted her preschool friends to do the same thing. She and her parents then added collection sites at businesses they visit regularly. Riley’s Toys Foundation accepts new or like-new toys, and uses monetary donations to purchase toys as well.
“The kids seem so happy when they get their first toy. I love to see their pictures and smiles” says Riley Hebbard, founder of Riley’s Toys Foundation. Riley dreams of one day going to Africa to “teach the children how to play with the toys, but that would take a lot of shots. I’ll wait until I get a little bit older” she says with a smile. “It’s really amazing to see how one little girl’s idea has taken off. We hear stories every day about children taking Riley’s lead and becoming more civic minded. They are realizing that one idea, no matter whose it is, can really make a difference in the lives of others. Some children are donating birthday gifts to RTF; one asked for money instead of gifts and donated it all to the Humane Society because she loved animals so much. Another started a food drive for a local food pantry. It’s really amazing!” says Rhonda Hebbard, Riley’s mom. This year Riley’s Toys Foundation partnered with The US Jaycees to take her efforts nationwide. The Bardsville-Nelson County Jaycees in Kentucky are selling orange rubber bracelets for $1 each to benefit RTF; Cecil County Maryland Jaycees shipped 500 toys to the foundation and a chapter in Chicago is running a Christmas in July Toy Drive. The 2nd Annual Summer Toy Drive will run through August 30, 2010 but toys and monetary donations are accepted year-round. For more information and a complete list of local drop off points please visit www.RileysToys.org Contact: Rhonda Hebbard Riley’s Toys Foundation 717.319.0559 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Riley’s Toys Foundation, headquartered in Mechanicsburg, PA, was started by an idea from then 4-year-old Riley Hebbard. After watching a news story about a Darfur Refugee camp, she decided to collect toys to send to the children in Africa. The organization is now a non profit corporation with a mission to collect toys and donations for needy children around the world. For more information, please visit www.RileysToys.org ### Annual Cake Raffle Raises Money for Riley’s Toys FoundationJune 30th, 2010Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, PA recently hosted a fundraiser that benefiting Riley’s Toys Foundation. The Family and Consumer Science Department there does something similar each year. This year they choose Riley’s Toys Foundation as a global non-profit. Their help is a wonderful reminder of what we can do when we pull together. We thank them for their BIG hearts and their stellar support!
Who: The Cumberland Valley High School Family and Consumer Sciences Department What: Annual Cake Raffle by Culinary Students Where: Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, PA Here’s a note from the event host….
We raised $300.00 at the cake raffle. Thank you to everyone that came out and participated! Each person makes a difference! Riley’s Toys Foundation is a certified 501C3. You can help Riley achieve her goal of getting one toy to every child in Africa by making a donation TODAY. To find out more about how you can get involved please visit the other pages of our website or visit us on Facebook or Twitter. And thank you. How It All Began!June 18th, 2010On February 20, 2009 my four-year old daughter, Riley, was getting ready for preschool and watching the Today Show with me, as we did every morning. Riley loves to watch Ann Curry, she is always going somewhere interesting and usually educational in nature (Antartica, climbing mountains etc).
This particular day she was in Africa; specifically, she was at a Darfur refugee camp located in Chad, just over the border from Sudan. The story included video that was taped at a school and Ann was there with George Clooney. Riley said ‘Mommy, those kids are at school!’ and I agreed. She then noticed ‘they have NO toys at their school, I’m going to send them my toys.’ I mentioned how proud I was that she was thinking of other people and we continued getting ready to start our day. On the way to school she remarked how neat it would be if all her school friends would send their toys to Africa too, so they would have enough for the whole school. I agreed that this would be very thoughtful, and then I promptly went back to thinking about my ever-increasing to-do list for the day. Fast forward to the end of the day. I walk into Riley’s classroom and I am greeted with 20 four-year-olds who say they are going to bring their toys for the children in Africa. I look helplessly at the teacher who obviously didn’t know what was going on either! I learned that during prayer circle she prayed for the African kids who didn’t have toys and she asked her friends to bring their old toys to school so she can send them to Africa. Miss Melinda asked me to type a letter to the parents so they knew what the children were talking about and Riley’s Toys was born.
As we went through our daily life in the following weeks, Riley would ask all the stores, restaurants and other places in our community to please collect toys for the kids in Africa. The next thing we knew the local NBC affiliate, WGAL, was calling to interview Riley. From there the story, and toy donations grew, and with a blurb on Ann Curry’s blog, the story grew legs of its own. Local news, newspapers, magazines and even business newsletters in central PA have featured Riley’s efforts. Riley and her ‘toy project’ as we refer to it at home, has grown in visibility and scope. Our first shipment to World Vision (our logistics and distribution partner) was 3,500 toys. What a huge accomplishment, especially for a child. In the past year, we have collected more than 10,000 toys to send to African children and donated more than 5,000 toys locally in our community. Riley has seen pictures of the children in Africa receiving some of the toys and that has given her even more resolve to complete her mission. She wants to collect and ship one toy for every child in Africa. She hopes to one day visit the children and deliver toys to them personally, because, as she says ‘they need to learn how to play with them.’ She thinks she is just the person to show them! I have explained that before anyone can go to Africa there are a lot of shots required, so that conversation has been tabled for a little while. It’s been a wild, exciting and very fulfilling year for Riley and all of our family. It has been eye-opening and educational as well as a lot of fun. We are anxiously looking ahead to year two…Stay tuned! Riley’s Toys Foundation is a certified 501C3. You can help Riley achieve her goal of getting one toy to every child in Africa by making a donation TODAY. To find out more about how you can get involved please visit the other pages of our website or visit us on Facebook or Twitter. And thank you. Summer Toy Drive, and More Underway at Riley’s Toys FoundationJune 9th, 2010It is on!The 2nd Annual Summer Toy Drive is underway! We have a lot of exciting things happening from being selected as the 2010 National US Jaycees non-profit partner of the year, to new corporate partner-supporters, to a hip bracelet offer; and we’re busy, busy, busy! Get Your Group Outfitted with the Coolest Bracelets available this Summer! Our friends at the Bardstown-Nelson Co. Jaycees in Kentucky are selling Riley’s Toys Foundation bracelets for only $1! The bracelets are made of silicon and are a gorgeous orange color. You can make a purchase by contacting Lori Krausen – email lorikrausen(at)hotmail(dot)com. All proceeds come directly to RTF. If you have questions about this initiative, contact us by leaving a comment below. We hope you’ll contact them to purchase enough bracelets for your entire neighborhood, church group, or office. The cause-related bracelet have even impressed RTF’s Chief Toy Inspector, Riley. Here’s what she had to say about the new RTF bracelets.
Let Riley know what you think about the summer bracelets by joining her on Facebook, or even Twitter. *And don’t forget to check things out here at the blog as we’ll be ways to get involved throughout the summer! This initiative is part of a broader partnership we’ve developed with the US Jaycees. We began working with the US Jaycees in 2009 and were selected as a non-profit partner. They do great work to support communities throughout the country and this year they’ve designated Riley’s Toy’s as an International Area of Opportunity. More from the Work Desk at RTF
As toys we’ve collected have been shared already with children in Zambia, and Lethoso, more yet travel the path to Darfur. From the continued work we’re doing with each of our partners to the day-to-day tasks we perform we are pushing ever-harder to eliminate the absence of by putting a toy in the hand of every child in Africa. Please help us continue this effort by donating securely with PayPal, or by taking toys to a drop-off center nearest you. If you have questions, stories of inspiration or ideas for how we can make Riley’s Toys more beneficial to children in need, please share them. We are only here because of the continued support of friends like you who know the need and can help support the mission. Riley’s Toys Foundation is a certified 501C3. You can help Riley achieve her goal of getting one toy to every child in Africa by making a donation TODAY. To find out more about how you can get involved please visit the other pages of our website or visit us on Facebook or Twitter. And thank you. |
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Photo credit goes to World Vision 
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