Dougherty Elementary Students Collect 200 Toys In Gift Drive

Fourth and fifth grade students involved in the Leadership Club at Dougherty Elementary School in Dublin collected 218 new toys in a gift drive to help other children.

Members of the club were filled with excitement Thursday as they described the project and what it meant to help others.

"We got all sorts of toys to help kids who don't get anything for Christmas," said Maddy, 10.

"I wanted to help make a difference," said Maddy's brother, William, also 10. 

Initially, the students wanted to adopt an elementary school in need and provide gifts for every kindergarten student in attendance. When Principal and Leadership Club advisor Catherine Ward-Mikes learned that the school they adopted would not work out, she turned to former colleague Brett Lorie.

Lorie, a teacher at , leads "Secret Snowflake," which will provide holiday gifts for every single student, kindergarten through fifth grade, at an elementary school in Concord.

The toys were wrapped in color coded paper. Green gifts for girls, red for boys  and yellow for either. 

"[The hardest toys to wrap] were oval shaped toys," said Bianca, 10, who said she wrapped nearly 30 presents by herself. 

While some of the toys were awkward to wrap and required a lot of tape, the students said they knew what they were doing mattered.

"[My favorite part of the project] was wrapping the presents because I knew for every toy I wrapped it was one more for someone to receive," said Rishik, 10.

Haley, 10, said the coolest present was a Play-doh Doctor Drill 'N Fill set. 

The project at Dougherty Elementary began before the Thanksgiving break with students setting a goal of collecting 150 gifts by Dec. 12. The 54 Leadership Club members worked together to brainstorm and create a flier — a California standard students learn in elementary school — and sent the information out to the school community.

Students also made posters and spoke to their peers about the project, asking families to donate a new, unwrapped toy to give to children who are less fortunate.

One of the best moments of the project occured when the students learned Dec. 9 they had reached their goal of 150 toys. 

"Both staff and community members enjoyed listening to my students giggling and screeching when they collected gift number 150," said Ward-Mikes.

For Caleb, 10, he enjoyed putting the signs up and advertising the project, but in the end he said the best part was how special it made him feel.

"My family was proud of me for helping," he said.

Ward-Mikes said she is also proud of the students.

"The students at Dougherty are really special children," she said. "I believe that any goal they set for themselves will be accomplished because of their hard work and determination."