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Posted: Sunday, 01 November 2009 7:56AM
Woman works to help needy kids
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ORLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) - The way Michelle Maxia sees it, you have two choices when things get tough.
``You're either gonna focus on the problem or engage in the solution,'' she said. ``I am about solutions.''
One of her answers to life's inequities, particularly when it comes to children, is an Orland Park warehouse full of new and gently used toys.
In a year and a half, Maxia, 45, has distributed more than 350,000 toys to nonprofit groups that, in turn, have given them out to thousands of needy children.
Puzzles, dolls, video game systems, plastic kitchen setups, even Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots have paused to be polished and, if needed, repaired on their way from one child's hands to another's.
Toys have gone to homeless children, poor children, sick children, special needs children and children who have a parent serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Maxia, an Orland Park mom of two and a former police officer with the Cook County sheriff's department, opened the Toy Box Connection in June 2008.
At the time, she was a stay-at-home mom trying to run Toy Swap, a Web site on which parents could trade toys and games. But people kept asking if they could make donations.
``Finally, I had a lightbulb moment and looked up and said, 'I get it, you want me to take toys.'''
Still, the idea made her pause. With her children becoming more independent, Maxia had already decided it was time to go back to work. She'd applied to be a part-time police officer with Tinley Park.
Her job offer came the same day she received government approval to operate a tax-exempt nonprofit group.
``I knew I couldn't do both jobs,'' she said.
A girlfriend added some clarity.
``She said, 'Will Tinley Park be safe without you?'''
Maxia had to acknowledge there was no shortage of officer candidates.
Then her friend asked, ``How many people are lined up wanting to start a nonprofit that connects children with toys?''
Once again, she got it.
Friends, her husband, Mike, and her children, Jacob and Makena, helped her turn an empty warehouse into a toy wonderland.
Costco donated bins. Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Starbucks and Kohl's provided small grants or volunteers. And generous people in the community have donated shipping costs on some occasions and wrapping paper on others.
The toys come from all over. Local churches and schools sponsor drives, but so do organizations such as The Illinois Farm Bureau.
Volunteers from local Scouting groups and special needs schools help repair any broken toys. They also put together puzzles to make sure all the pieces are there.
The toys are distributed to nonprofits near and far. Among the recipients are Together We Cope, Loyola's Ronald McDonald House, Lambsfold Women's Center and St. Jude's Hospital in Tennessee.
Maxia, who test drives every toy that passes through her warehouse, has also presented toys at a holiday event in Lemont for children of soldiers and at family reading nights at Bryant School in Harvey and Paul Revere School in Blue Island. Each participant has left with five books and a stuffed animal.
Maxia said her biggest hurdle is raising enough cash to pay the rent on the warehouse. She's held seven fundraisers so far, and each has broken even.
But she's not worried.
``It will all work out, I just know it,'' she said.
The event that reaffirmed her career choice and that ``shook my body and my soul'' was the time she held a party for 102 children of the Mooseheart Orphanage.
At the end of the party, Maxia said she could tell the youngsters didn't want to leave. So she told them she had one more surprise for them.
``I yelled out, in Oprah and Ty (Pennington) fashion, 'Move that wall,''' Maxia said. Volunteers pushed away a makeshift wall to reveal 102 wrapped supersized packages. Four or five toys were inside each.
``The roar of laughter, the screams,'' she recalled. ``That day changed my life.''
When the ruckus had settled, a 9-year-old boy approached Maxia and asked, ``Why did you do this?''
``I told him, 'God sent me here to let you guys know he's thinking of you and that he's got your back.'''
The child then said, ``I will never forget this day.''
Maxia said neither will she.
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Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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