Eagle Scout project donates toys to sick kids

Boy Scout Michael Herbig of Troop 983 is the leader behind a project aimed at donating toys to the young patients at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

The 14-year-old student at Maricopa High School said his idea for a toy drive was sparked by the Eagle Scout project.

“I was thinking I had several possibilities of what I could do, but at a hospital it gets monotonous so giving toys is to help the kids feel at home,” he said.

While he may be doing the project to earn his Eagle Scout ranking, Herbig said he believes being a part of the community is important.
“Eagle Scout projects are leadership projects and they’re supposed to get a scout to think about how to help the community,” he said. “Right now I am in the phase of advertising the fact that I am doing this project and also collecting the toys for the kids.”

Herbig had at least seven donation bins placed throughout Maricopa where people can donate the toys through Nov. 26.

Sites included: Our Lady of Grace Church; First Baptist Church; Maricopa Lutheran Church; The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints fourth and seventh ward-Homestead; LDS third and first ward next to Maricopa High School; LDS second, fifth and sixth ward-Tortosa; and the Maricopa Library.

Part of donating toys is having people participate, and Herbig said, “We thought that with all the churches involved we would have a good turnout, but it isn’t that great so we need that extra push within the community.”

Herbig said he hopes the kids receiving the toys will feel at home and hopefully the toys will help take their attention off of their current situation.

Joseph Julicher, Herbig’s adviser for the project and assistant scout master, said he hoped "learns about being able to have people follow through with things, and make sure people do their work, he is a hard-working, conscientious Scout.” 

Herbig said he thanks everyone for their help, including the locations where the bins are, Maricopa Storage Solutions for providing him a place to store the toys and the Maricopa Library for allowing him to print out signs for the bins.