Bicycle assembly starts Toys for Tots campaign
BAE Systems helped start the Marine Corps' 2010 Hawaii Toys for Tots collection campaign yesterday by assembling bicycles that will be donated to the annual toy collection drive. Lauren Cashour, Lance Corp. Julian Allen, Jennifer Pervinkler and Sgt. Delano Bennett worked on this bike. This is the fifth year of BAE Systems' Bike for Tykes effort to support Toys for Tots, which has donated more than 400 bicycles since 2006.
From left, Raquel Takayama, Frank McLaughlin III, Tom McLaughlin, Lea Sipes, Frankie McLaughlin V, Frank McLaughlin IV and Ryan Thigpen work on assembling a bike as part of defense contractor BAE Systems' Bike for Tykes effort in support of the Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program.
Six-year-old Frankie McLaughlin V turned a wrench and tightened a nut on a bicycle axle for a kid who he doesn’t know and will never meet.
McLaughlin and his younger brother Tommy spent their morning yesterday building bikes for poor kids at the Toys for Tots warehouse in Iwilei.
"I want to make bikes for the kids that don’t get Christmas presents," Frankie said. "I feel kind of bad that they don’t get any Christmas presents."
The Bike for Tykes event was organized by BAE Systems, the largest defense contractor in Hawaii, to kick start the Marine Corps’ 2010 Toys for Tots campaign.
BAE Systems sought donations from employees and bought 55 bicycles this year. Since 2006, BAE employees have raised enough to donate more than 400 bikes to Toys for Tots.
"Every one of these bikes represents a child that will have a nice Christmas," Marine Corps spokesman Chuck Little said. "If it weren’t for the generosity of these people, (the kids) may not have a Christmas at all."
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Employees had the bikes shipped to the warehouse and volunteered to assemble them themselves.
This holiday season, Toys for Tots hopes to distribute 45,000 toys to needy children in Hawaii. So far, the drive has collected about 6,000 toys.
HOW TO HELPToys for Tots wants to distribute 45,000 toys in Hawaii. To donate, visit www.facebook.com/toysfortotshawaii or call Staff Sgt. Rafael Arriaga at 257-7147. |
The Salvation Army will distribute the toys to families who have registered with local charities for assistance, said drive coordinator Staff Sgt. Rafael Arriaga.
He said in previous years donations have been fallen off, while more families are in need because of the economy. He said he hopes the trend doesn’t continue this year.
Besides the BAE employees, Marines and sailors also jumped in to help.
Former Navy Chief Petty Officer Romaine Williams helped assemble a purple girl’s bike.
It was the first time Williams, a new BAE employee, volunteered for Bike for Tykes, and he had a special reason to help out.
About 20 years ago, Toys for Tots gave a doll house and a set of dolls to his three daughters for Christmas.
"They loved it," he said. "It was a collection of things that made Christmas a lot more pleasurable for us."
He said that experience helped him appreciate the value of Toys for Tots.
"Every second, everything I do, I know it’s going to be going back to another person," he said.
BAE shipyard worker Jason Ahnemiller came for the fourth year with his 8-year-old daughter, Isabel. For Ahnemiller, the event also presents an opportunity to achieve his hope of turning his daughter "into a little mechanic."
But on the third 16-inch, Huffy Rock-It boy’s bike, Isabel began showing signs of fatigue.
She unearthed the training wheels from the box and sat down, holding a wire cutter in her hand, saying, "Snip, snip, snip."
"She’s more into art," Ahnemiller said as Isabel smiled.
Though his hopes for a mechanically inclined daughter don’t appear to be panning out, "It feels good to help out," Ahnemiller said.
