Washington County teen helping those in need during holiday season with toy drive
SOUTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) -- One Washington County teenager has been trying to fill trucks with toys every holiday season since 2013.
Momentum for the annual holiday event started small but has grown since its inception.
The whipping winds weren't deterring the spirit of giving Sunday.
"It's a little bit cold today, but it's sunny out, and people are donating toys, so it's a good day!" Kristin Bergman, Colby Jeffrey's mom, said.
"Every year, we make sure that we get as many toys as humanly possible to bring up here," Amber Gill of Houston said. "Since we don't have kids, we wanted to donate with underprivileged kids."
That's exactly what Colby Jeffrey wanted to do. It all started with a school assembly about Toys for Tots.
"I went home and asked my parents if we could fill my dad's box truck with toys for the drive," Jeffrey said.
"At first, I'm like, 'Wait, what?'" Bergman said. "And then, it was like, this five-year-old kid wants to do something that's so much bigger than he is, and how can you say no to that?
They're still saying yes to his request, taking in toy arachnids and stuffed animals.
"One toy makes a huge difference. [It] could make somebody's Christmas," Jeffrey said.
Every toy gets tallied in ink. Filling the U-Haul is like a science, almost like a game of Tetris.
"It's a lot to ask of people in the community, but they step up," Bergman said.
Stepping up with armies of bags to follow Colby's lead.
"He's really kind of made such a difference in such a short period of time," Bergman said. "He still doesn't ask for anything. He just wants to give to everybody else ever since he was five."
The holiday toy drive ended up getting 1,499 toys in just one day.
