Gary Goodyear, MP Helps St. Augustine Students Make Toys For Kandahar A Reality

May 01, 2007

Gary Goodyear, MP is honoured to help Taylor Martin fulfill her quest. Taylor, a student at St. Augustine Catholic School in Cambridge has been working hard to gather toys for hospitalized children in Kandahar. The idea began following an email from friends of one of the students who have a son in Afghanistan. Canadian Forces soldier Justin Green had told of the tragic circumstances many Afghani children find themselves in: injured, abandoned, alone. This was all Taylor Martin, needed to hear to do something for these kids.

Toys For Kandahar – Linda Martin (Taylor’s Mom)

The toy drive was inspired by a rather modest email. Our family friends, Ron & Denise Green, received an email from Ron's son, Justin Green, who is currently serving in Kandahar. In his email, he stated that he was thrilled with the goodies and care packages that he'd been receiving from loved ones, but he was feeling that perhaps their efforts would be more meaningful if redirected. He mentioned that there are often Afghani children in the military hospitals who have been affected by war...land mines, warfare, loss of loved ones...and they have either been wounded, abandoned unintentionally or lost. Canadian soldiers often rescue these children and bring them to the Canadian hospitals for treatment and it gives the soldiers a great deal of pride to be able to make these children smile. They have lived through horrors that no child should endure and it is difficult for them to find reason to smile at any time, let alone when circumstances have caused them to end up in the hospital. If a small toy is available, the soldiers have found that the children, who often have never seen a toy before, are so delighted when a soldier makes a small gift of a toy to them, that they smile so beautifully, it is truly heart-wrenching. Not only does it serve as a way to brighten their faces, but it also becomes a reminder to them of the kindness and care of the Canadian soldiers who helped them at such a terrible time. Justin said he would really appreciate it if tiny toys could be sent so the soldiers can always have a small toy to give to these children, and specified that they had to be very small; storage space at the bases is an issue, and the living quarters to which these children will bring the toys are very cramped, so the toys had to be small enough to fit into the palm of a very young child.

When Ron & Denise told us of the email, my children immediately jumped into action, and within minutes had filled a large bag with every small stuffed animal they owned. They are teenagers now, and had held onto their favourites, but were so happy to give them to children who needed them...they felt it was far more meaningful than giving new toys, as it came from their hearts to give of themselves. We delivered these to the Green residence and were working out how to get them to Justin, as they would have to go a few at a time. A few days later, my daughter approached me and asked if I thought it would be a good idea to ask the school if they could help. I suggested that since she was on student council, she could ask her teacher advisors and the principal whether they would like to do something to help. Obviously, they thought it was a good idea, so student council prepared a slide show presentation and asked Ron if he could come and give a short speech to make it more tangible for the children to understand.

On Monday, April 16, at a morning assembly, student council made their presentation and Ron spoke to the children about what war was like for the Afghani children. The children were mesmerized and embraced the idea of "kids helping kids" far beyond our expectations. (Ron could fill you in more on the details of his presentation, if you wish, as I wasn't there.) On Monday, April 30, Ron was asked to return to the school to accept the collection of toys on the school's behalf, and was overwhelmed with over 800 toys!! He told the children that he was so proud of their caring efforts and that they were well on their way to becoming great Canadians. The children cheered and burst into applause with the knowledge that they were about to make such a difference.

Now we had a huge dilemma...the response was far greater than we had anticipated and the method that we were going to use to get toys to Justin was no longer feasible. We went to the Galt branch of the Canadian Legion to inquire, and they accepted a drop box for anyone who wanted to donate to the cause. They also suggested we speak to some politicians, as they may know how we could arrange for the toys to be sent to our destination. In the meantime, I had been in contact with a gentleman in Calgary who had started a toy foundation for Afghani children in the memory of a friend who died in Canada's service in Afghanistan. He was helpful, but his intent was to send toys for any child in Afghanistan, whereas our mission was to fulfill Justin's request that they go to the hospitals for injured children. Gerry Martiniuk's office directed us to Gary Goodyear's office.

We were welcomed with offers of so much assistance from Mr. Goodyear's staff, we were overwhelmed. We had expected it to take a much longer time to find a way to transport the toys to our destination. When Susanne Friedl, one of Mr. Goodyear's senior assistants, called to say that he was very proud that the community was stepping up to plate and he would do whatever it takes to ensure the toys get to Afghanistan, we were thrilled. They offered to put a drop box in their office and would accept the responsibility of sending all toys to the hospitals. We are so grateful.

It is our hope, now, that the children will be able to receive some follow-up on this mission. They have given of themselves so generously and have embraced the idea that children half-way around the world need their help. Seeing their toys being passed along to some of the injured children would make it real in their hearts and their minds, and it is our hope that this will instill in them the desire to continue to be passionate about caring for the less fortunate in this world as they mature and become the next generation of leaders and policy-makers in our country. They will learn through their own actions what it truly means to be Proud to be Canadian!