ABILENE, Texas -
Christmas came early for several sick kids at Hendrick Children's Hospital Thursday.

"Unfortunately we’re in the hospital so it doesn't quite feel like home," said Olivia Brigham whose daughter is at Hendrick Children’s Hospital.

The 4th Air Wing of the Texas State Guard made a visit to the hospital to hand out donated gifts.

The event is called "Young Heroes of the Guard" and this is the first year Hendrick Children's Hospital has been included in it.

"It was surprising, I didn't know. It was very exciting. We went in there and there were so many friendly faces and presents and our daughter was just so elated and so excited to pick out her presents," said Brigham.

"It's a pleasure just to watch these kids come in and they're just having a good time and that's just a good feeling," said First Lt. Don Howe of the 4th Air Wing.

The goal is to leave a year's worth of toys behind at every hospital they visit. Where do the toys come from?

"The toys came from all the men and women of the different Air Support Groups and the 4th Air Wing and they bought these and they donated them," said Howe.

This year the 4th Air Wing visited more than 900 hospital beds around Texas with one goal in mind.

"For them to have a Merry Christmas," Howe said.

"It makes it feel a little bit more like home," said Brigham.

To donate toys to the Young Heroes of the Guard mail them to 2200 W. 35th Street, Building 32, Austin, TX 78763

WATCH THE VIDEO

A few days before Christmas, members of the Texas State Guard HQ delivered 1,500 toys to Dell Children's Hospital in Austin. This was the third year that the group collected for this hospital and it was the largest delivery so far. SGT John Gately of the J6 section headed up the drive supported by COL Joe Jelinski, TXSG CSM Bell and MSG Lightfoot.

SGT Gately has been collecting toys for this drive for the last 4 years. He started with the 19th Regiment and their toy drive at Dallas Children's hospital and when he transferred to HQ, he continued the work to benefit a hospital in Austin. During the last 4 toy drives, SGT Gately has collected almost 4,000 toys. When asked why he is so passionate about this effort he stated; " when I was 6 years old, I broke my leg. When he got out of the hospital, his parents had gotten him a stuffed teddy bear, and he remembers how happy it made him. Now he wants to help bring the same joy to other children."

This year he had a special helper. His son PFC Jacob Gately helped him with the toy collection and he's hoping the "addiction" catches on for him, too.

Story by: CW2 Janet Schmelzer, PAO, 4th Regiment
 
Posted: 10-DEC-13

FORT WORTH, TX--The 4th Regiment is holding its fifth Young Heroes of the Texas State Guard Toy Drive on December 14 to patients at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth.
 
The Texas State Guard is honored to provide community service support for this toy drive.  This event is another way to give back to the community and live up to our motto "Texans Serving Texans."  This is one of the most rewarding community service events for the TXSG because we are helping children and  parents at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth to have a brighter and happier holiday season.
 
Collection boxes have been placed around the DFW metroplex and the good people of DFW have donated the toys. 

Addicted To Giving
MAJ Michael Quinn Sullivan, PAO, TXSG
2012/12/10

As addictions go, Johnny Gately has a good one: organizing Christmas toy drives.

“The more toys I get, the more toys I want,” said Gately, a sergeant assigned to the Texas State Guard headquarters in Austin. “It’s an addiction, I admit it.”

On Sunday morning, Gately delivered more than 1,300 toys - stuffed animals, board games, videos and more - to Dell Children’s Hospital on behalf of the soldiers of the TXSG.

The toys came from a variety of sources: employees at Securus Technologies, cash donations through the Texas State Guard Association from the Frisco-based Roughriders minor league baseball team, and Gately’s own business, the Drop N Aces poker league.

The toys were delivered unwrapped to Dell Children’s, giving the hospital’s staff greater latitude in how to use and distribute them now and in the months ahead.

Loxy Passmore, a Child Life assistant, said some toys will be used in the hospital’s play rooms, but many more will be given as gifts to the young patients.

Looking over the mounds of stuffed bears, she was clearly looking for - or hoping to see - something in particular.

“We have one little boy here right now who just loves panda bears. I hope there’s a panda in there somewhere.” Moments later, a stuffed panda emerged from the pile. Passmore’s eyes lit up. “This will mean so much,” she said. “All of this.”

Gately was pleased to see the number of toys collected nearly double from last year. In 2011, the TXSG delivered 755 pieces to the hospital. This year’s 1,334 sets an impressive goal for Gately to reach in ’13.

The drive started in earnest in October, but planning begins much sooner. In fact, Gately has already started thinking about next year. Employees at Securus Technologies - a Metroplex-based business - have already volunteered to participate in 2013.

SGT Gately said one selling point for both individuals and business contributors was that the toys were “staying in Texas, for Texas kids.”

Toy Drive Brings Christmas To Children's Hospital 
CPL Jason Marshburn
2010/01/30
On Saturday, 12 December 2009 Texas State Guard troops from multiple units and commands arrived at area children's hospitals to distribute toys for the first "Young Hero's Of The Guard" toy drive.

Conceived by COL Gerald Lemons, commander of the 4th Civil Affairs Regiment, the drive benefited sick and injured children enduring long term hospitalizations over the Christmas season. Over 2,000 toys were collected from over 40 locations around north Texas! The toys were then distributed to the Dallas-Fort Worth area children's hospitals: Cook Children's Hospital (Fort Worth), Texas Scottish Rite Hospital (Dallas), and Our Children's House at Baylor (Dallas).

"Our original goal was to collect 500 toys." said LTC Jerald Garner, Chaplain of the 4th Civil Affairs Regiment. Troops from the 4th Regiment distributed 336 toys at Cook's and left another 140.

Later that afternoon, at Ridgemar shopping center, Chaplain (1LT) David Fish, 2nd BN Chaplain, very ceremoniously gave 250 toys to the United States Marine Corps Reserve "Toys for Tots" program. On Wednesday, December 16th, 250 toys were given to the Grand Prairie Police Department, with 2LT Rob Davis and CPL Jon David Wells representing the 4th Regiment.

The 19th Civil Affairs Regiment handed out toys at Our Children's House at Baylor and the 4th Air Wing handed out toys at Shriner's Children's Hospital.

Texas State Guard delivers to Santa Cop
Editor, Grand Prairie Reporter
2009/12/17

Members of the Guard donated 300 toys to Santa Cop.Members of the Texas State Guard helped the Grand Prairie Police Department’s Santa Cop make sure underprivileged families in Grand Prairie have a merry Christmas. The Guard delivered more than 300 toys Wednesday at the Grand Prairie Police Headquarters.

After hearing last week’s plea from Santa Cop for donations to fill this year’s request for assistance, talk radio station KLIF Program Director Steve Nicholl contacted the Texas State Guard to see if there were extra toys to share from its Christmas toy program, Young Heroes of the Guard.

Lieutenant Robert Davis, spokesman for the Texas State Guard, said members worked hard and collected more than 2,200 toys for the Scottish Rite Hospital, Our Children’s House and Cook’s Children Hospital.

“We were blessed enough to have more to give, more than those hospitals could really take and keep” Lt. Davis said. “So, we are here in Grand Prairie to help in their time of need.”

While loading the Guard’s donations, Bob Allen of Grand Prairie arrived with a SUV load of toys and a $500 check from the West End Charities of Dallas. He said the charity heard of Santa Cop’s problem and the West End had some extra it could donate.

Officer Mark Calvert said with the donations from the Texas State Guard and the West End Charities, “It’s going to put us over the top.”

He added that toys not distributed this year will be stored to “give us a start for next year” or could be used to help families should a disaster occur during the next year.

Debra Willis, Santa Spot coordinator, said thanks to the media getting the word out about the group’s problem, they now have enough hams and turkeys to provide a Christmas meal for each of the families.

This year’s distribution of the toys and food is December 17.

Original article formerly on the Grand Prairie Reporter web site.