‘Tis the season to give back: Young couple hosts 1st Warrior Children Inc. toy drive
Published 12:05 am Wednesday, December 18, 2019
- Cecilla Brown hands a toy to a child during the Inaugural Warrior Children Inc. toy drive.
LAPLACE — Husband and wife duo Randell and Cecilla Brown have a dream of empowering every child in St. John the Baptist Parish to dream bigger, live fuller lives and simply be unstoppable.
The Browns founded Warrior Children Inc. last month to achieve that goal by providing children with better access to healthcare, education and everyday necessities.
Warrior Children Inc. and Our Sons and Daughter Village sponsored a toy drive in front of the Cambridge subdivision Saturday made possible by heartfelt donations from BAR Realty, More New Homes, Riverlands Insurance, State Title and Choice Title.
Jour-nee Jones, 3, plays with her new shopping cart.
The toy drive also saw support from numerous family and friends, according to Cecillia. Open to ages 0 to 13, the giveaway connected children in need to an assembly line packed with toys. Every child received either two small toys or one large toy, in addition to a stuffed animal and candy.
Toys ranged from sensory toys for newborns to skateboard, footballs and soccer balls for tweens. Little Jour-nee Jones, 3, was ecstatic to receive a stuffed animal and a miniature shopping cart. Volunteers looked on happily as Jour-nee pushed her new shopping cart all around the parking lot.
“I grew up in this neighborhood, so out goal was to give back to the underprivileged children of St. John the Baptist Parish,” Cecilla said. “We sent out letters to small businesses, and we got a lot of donations from friends and family also. We started in LaPlace. The goal next year is to reach out to Reserve and Garyville and do a pop-up shop in every town in the parish.”
Cecilla and Randell are also making an effort to include residents on the West Bank, according to Sheila Brown, who also volunteered at the toy drive. The couple recently received calls from an elderly resident in Edgard who could not make it to LaPlace but still had grandchildren to provide for.
“Cecilla is bringing Christmas dinner, turkeys and some toys for the grandchildren,” Sheila Brown said.
Married couple Cecilla and Randell Brown hosted their first toy drive Saturday in front of the Cambridge subdivision.
Cecilla said Warrior Children Inc. will begin collecting donations in January for a school supply drive in July. Before this school year ends, she hopes to organize a Career Fest for students at East St. John High School with local business representatives featured as guest speakers.
Randell said it is incredibly important to help children reach their full potential. He anticipates the toy drive will grow larger every year.
“It’s our community. We live here and we grew up here,” he said. “We’ve seen the worst of the worst and the best of the best, and we want to make sure every kid has opportunities.”
Though the event officially started at nine, the firs recipients showed up around 7:30 a.m. Over the hours that followed, there was a steady flow of families and young children.
Audrey Snyder brought two children to the toy drive to receive a little extra Christmas cheer.
“It means a lot to the kids,” Snyder said. “Some of them can’t have anything, so it’s great that they are doing this.”
Family member Alicia Eugene said the volunteers who assisted in the effort are bonded through the shared experience of growing up in St. John Parish and graduating from East St. John. It means a lot for them to give back.
Family member and volunteer Cassaundra Huntington was happy to help out.
“It’s the Christmas season. We should all be giving because there are people who are less fortunate than you are,” she said.
