WEST JORDAN, Utah — Week after week, volunteers like Wade Bender spend hours in Tiny Tim’s Toy Factory.
"I watch as we get older and older around here and we're waking a little slower and we got a limp or whatever, but we keep coming,” Bender said.
Bender says they keep coming because making the little cars with smiling faces is one way they can make a difference in the world.
"That’s really important to me,” Bender said. “The relationship all of us have together, we all have the same basic purpose, and that purpose is to help children out there in the world.”
Alton Thacker had that same purpose. Those who knew him say he was the type of man who would give the shirt off his back to help somebody else, which is why he and his wife started Tiny Tim’s Foundation for Kids in 1996 after taking several humanitarian trips to Mexico.
"They learned that there are 500 million children in the world who have never had a toy, so we started making them just in the garage,” said Thacker’s granddaughter, Emilee Johnson.
The toy shop is now much bigger than the garage. Johnson says Tiny Tim’s has already made more than 100,000 toys this year. They also quilt and sew items for those in need.
"It’s amazing — the knowing that you did something to help somebody else,” she said.
After a life of service, Thacker passed away peacefully at 89 on Tuesday, but his legacy lives on through his family, the foundation, and the millions of toys around the world that put smiles on kids' faces.
"He was the warmest, kindest person that you would meet. He always said to me, ‘I try to do one kind thing to somebody every single day,’” Johnson remembered. "Growing up, it was grandpa's toy shop and the grandkids loved to come and to help and do this, but now I've got so many grandma and grandpas here — this is everybody's toy shop.”
You can support Tiny Tim’s Foundation for Kids year-round by volunteering and donating. To learn more, you can go to their website.
