10/21/2024
Eight years ago I started out on a mission to memorialize a sweet baby boy who was taken from us before he had the chance to leave his mark on this world. The imprint that he left with his family and those that loved him would always remain, but I was determined to make his mark bigger than that. That year, the Elijah James Huy Memorial Toy Drive was born. It started with a little over a hundred gifts being donated to our Studer Family Children’s Hospital. What better population to bless than these poor children who were in the hospital, just like he was, but at what is supposed to be the happiest time of the year. The toy drive has continued to grow each year and truly has become my baby and with the help of my amazing work family has grown tremendously. Two years ago we purchased shelving to store the toys under the stairwell in our building because we outgrew our previous storage place. Well, what a great problem to have-we’ve done it again. Yesterday, thanks to my partner in crime Kelli Lynn, who took this project on like it was her own and has become my partner in it, we were donated a storage unit to store our toys as our stockpile grows and grows over the next several months approaching Christmas. Last year we donated over 2500 toys to both the Children’s Hospital and The Ronald McDonald House and this year is going to be even bigger. I decided yesterday, as we were moving the toys to their new temporary home, that it was time to change the name of the toy drive. Last year as we were being interviewed for Angels In Our Midst, Kelli made a statement and it has stuck with me since then. She said that she jumped on board a few years ago because she heard the story and wanted to help to leave Elijah’s footprint on the world. I loved it when she said it and it truly has defined what we are doing. So now that our mission has found it’s new temporary home, I’m happy to say that it also has a new name. Elijah’s Footprint will continue to bless the kids in our area this year and for many years to come and I could not be more proud. As you can see we have LOTS of storage now and plenty of room to go so please reach out if you want to help ❤️❤️ I feel so blessed that this project was placed on my heart and that I get to watch it grow every year. Bring on the toys!!! We are ready ❤️
