{"id":7420,"date":"2024-12-02T12:19:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T18:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?p=7420"},"modified":"2024-12-02T12:19:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T18:19:51","slug":"teenager-leads-toy-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/02\/teenager-leads-toy-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenager Leads Toy Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_1296-1024x506.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_1296-1024x506.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_1296-300x148.jpg 300w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_1296-768x380.jpg 768w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_1296-1536x759.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_1296.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo Courtesy Isaac Angels Toy Drive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Toy-drive-4_mixdown.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Isaac&#8217;s Angels Toy Drive is collecting toy donations until Dec. 20 at several locations in the Rio Grande Valley to benefit children in hospitals during the holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaac Garza, a Kawasaki disease survivor, started this nonprofit organization nine years ago as a way to give back.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cWhen I was seven, I was in a hospital too, and I would receive a lot of gifts,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I got released from the hospital, I wanted to give back to a couple of my friends. Then I had an idea \u2014 I thought it was unfair if I only gave gifts to a couple of my friends. So I was like, \u2018Can we give gifts to the whole hospital instead?\u2019 And my mom said, \u2018Maybe we can try to work something out.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Laura Garza, Isaac&#8217;s mother, said a young boy in the hospital inspired them to start the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cWhen Isaac was in the hospital, he met a little boy named Emmanuel,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was the sweetest, neatest little kid. I was in awe of this child because he had many medical conditions, but he was still very optimistic. He and Isaac became friends, and honestly, that\u2019s how it all started. Isaac wanted to give him a Corvette and a train.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Laura Garza recalled the most memorable moment from the first toy drive was when they went to deliver toys to Emmanuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cWhen his friend saw them, oh my God, his face,\u201d she said. \u201cI still get emotional. His face lit up, and I thought, \u2018Wow, that\u2019s pure joy.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Laura Garza said Isaac\u2019s brother, Jacob Garza, has supported the toy drive since the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cJacob has been our little vice president since day one,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has been the most supportive brother through this whole deal, even when Isaac was sick in the hospital. He always stepped up to the plate to help out. He wanted the school to participate in the toy drive.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Laura Garza said she is proud of her children for creating a positive impact in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cIt is a lot of work to put the toy drive together,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then we do the collection, it is a lot of work that we do and a lot of it gets done just the three of us. We don\u2019t ask for the volunteers until the day of because that is when we need to do the sort, but they\u2019ve never complained once.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Jacob Garza said giving back to children is a rewarding experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cIt\u2019s good,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m glad we\u2019re doing this. It\u2019s great to see the faces light up.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are currently 24 collection sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley. For more information about the locations, visit the Isaac\u2019s Angels Toy Drive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100068982248965\">Facebook<\/a> page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is Celeste Cruz for Vaquero Radio.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Isaac&#8217;s Angels Toy Drive is collecting toy donations until Dec. 20 at several locations in the Rio Grande<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":7421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-radio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Teenager Leads Toy Drive - The Valley&#039;s Student Station<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"saac&#039;s Angels Toy Drive is collecting toy donations until Dec. 20 at several locations in the Rio Grande Valley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/02\/teenager-leads-toy-drive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teenager Leads Toy Drive - 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