7-year-old donates bikes to Toys for Tots

By STACEY SOLT

tneditor@tnonline.com

Seven-year-old Dayton Moyer understands that the true meaning of Christmas isn’t about getting presents, but rather giving them.

The second-grader at Lehighton Elementary Center gave two bicycles that he won from the Lehighton Booster Club to Toys for Tots.

Moyer won a bike this fall by selling the most raffle tickets during the booster club’s fundraiser. But because he already has a bike, Moyer asked if he could donate his prize to Toys for Tots.

The club responded by buying two smaller bikes for Moyer, who happily dropped the bikes off at Salem Bible Fellowship Church in Lehighton Wednesday.

Moyer is the son of Natalie and Todd Moyer.

The local Toys for Tots campaign will provide toys for more than 450 needy families throughout Carbon County and the Tamaqua area — reaching more than 1,000 kids who might otherwise not receive gifts at Christmas.

The local Toys for Tots campaign was started in 1986 by the Schuylkill-Carbon Marine Corps League, fashioned after the national program that began in 1947. Nationwide, the Marine Corps currently distributes an average of 18 million toys to 7 million children each year.

During Moyer’s donation, dozens of volunteers were busy sorting toys and choosing gifts for local families registered with Toys for Tots.

Among those helping were members of the Marine Corps League, Salem Bible Fellowship Church, Panther Valley Honor Society, and the local chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees.

Once sorting is done by this weekend, every registered family will pick up a labeled bag of toys for their children.

“We enjoy doing this. It’s our service project, and we try to get the community involved,” said organizer Cheryl Laub.