Allen High School is a community full of organizations dedicated to improving the lives of others.
A well-known one is Toys for Texans, which is a nonprofit run by students. The recent summer program has come to a close after being able to achieve its goal of spreading joy to kids in need.
“In the summer program, we distributed around 3,000 to 4,000 toys and books to special needs children and hospitalized children in the Dallas, Fort Worth area,” senior Piyush Chintalwar said. “Some of the hospitals were Scottish Rite, and then we worked with the Credit Union of Texas, Waters Creek and the Allen Police Department to collect these items.”
With the original founding group for Toys for Texans graduating this spring, many new board members have been elected into the program.
“The idea is to continue to grow and expand,” senior Marc D’jamoos said. “We are in the process of getting newer students to start leading to spread the leadership.”
Several of the new leaders are sophomores and juniors who want to be involved with the Toys for Texans motive.
“For the summer program, I was a trainee, so the director’s board trained us over the summer and I was figuring out the school year and what we should do and everything,” sophomore Anushka Mande said.
With the close of the summer program, and especially with new board members, Toys for Texans has goals to maximize its success.
“Right now we are planning on making the Toys for Texans club in school more active,” Mande said. “We are also trying to hold more drives, we have our main Christmas drive so we are [hoping] to get as many volunteers as possible.”
Toys for Texans is always accepting volunteers and donations.
“[An important thing to know is] that we are student-run and student-led, and having a space to help around us as a student,” D’jamoos said.
The summer program is not the only drive they commence to collect donations. Throughout the year, toys and other items are gathered for the benefit of children.
“I think it’s really helped just make so many children happy,” Mande said. “We have raised so [much] and gotten so many toys. We have been able to help a lot of kids in such a short amount of time.”
There is not a deadline to be able to help with the growth of Toys for Texans. The program is open to the growth of its club through new members.
“We have a Remind so that [students] can always volunteer and we offer a lot of volunteer services at events,” Mande said. “We are in constant need of officers so you can always apply [for] that and we hold interviews, but even if you don’t want to do that we always have volunteer opportunities where [students] can help out.”
