John Hinton, Amber Garcia and family members get ready to distribute toys to patients at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach as part of the Annual Tyler Garcia Toy Drive
Every year, children look forward to the holidays. The excitement of holiday festivities creates an atmosphere of pure happiness, but for children who are staying in the hospital during the holidays it can be difficult to enjoy themselves and share that same joy. For nine years, the Tyler Garcia Toy Drive has been on a mission to bring that excitement back to the patients and families at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach.
Started as a way to honor his late grandson, Tyler Garcia, John Hinton began gathering toys to hand out to the children who were unable to leave the hospital during the holidays. Tyler was a patient at the Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center at Miller Children’s after being diagnosed with brain cancer. After beating his battle with cancer, Tyler’s life was tragically cut short when he was struck by a car in 2005.
Several years later Hinton and his daughter Amber Garcia, keep the memory of Tyler alive by giving back to the hospital where Tyler was treated. Hinton, Garcia and several of their family members buy toys with their own funds and ask everyone they know to donate toys for children of all ages.
“This is a great way to remember Tyler and we know it’s something he would want us to do,” says Hinton. “Being able to provide for these kids when their parents might not have time or money to go out and get them gifts is really important to us.”
Hinton works closely with the Child Life Program at Miller Children’s to ensure that they have appropriate toys for every patient in the hospital. Each year, Hinton and his family pile hundreds of toys into bright red wagons and hand deliver them to patients spending a bit of time with each child and family along the way.
“Our goal during the holidays it to make sure our patients don’t miss out on a lot of the holiday fun that’s happening outside of the hospital,” says Rita Goshert, manager,
Child Life Program, Miller Children’s. “The Tyler Garcia Toy Drive helps provide our patients with a needed distraction from being in the hospital and reminds them that people feel what they are going through.”
The toys left over from the bedside visits are left behind for patients who are either in isolation and can’t accept visitors, or for patients who are admitted to Miller Children’s throughout the holiday season.
A young patient at the Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center gets ready to play with some toys donated by the Tyler Garcia Toy Drive.
A crib jam-packed with toys from the Tyler Garcia Toy Drive is wheeled around Miller Children’s where Tyler Garcia’s family is distributing them to every patient.