DAYTON — Eaton resident and Bruce Elementary third grader Ty Fugate donated roughly $4,000 worth of toys to Dayton Children’s Hospital on Friday, Dec. 2.
Fugate is the 9-year-old son of Amy and Christian Fugate. Four years ago at Christmas, he spent time in the hospital emergency room due to a high fever. There he received a toy for Christmas.
Years later, he decided he wanted to donate a box truck full of toys for children. When asked why he wanted to donate toys, he said it was how his parent’s raised him.
“My mom and my dad inspired me to help children, help people, and not hate people,” Ty said.
He shared that his stay in the hospital was “kind of scary because I was away from my family” and that he was “really sick on Christmas day.” He hopes the toys will make the children’s hospital stay a little better. His wish is for them to “be happy and have a great Christmas.”
Both of his parents are immensely proud of their son.
“A year ago, right after Thanksgiving, he came up with the idea of donating toys,” Amy Fugate said. “We tried to get as much together as we possibly could, brought them over close to Christmas. As soon as we were leaving he said, ‘Mom, I want it bigger next year. I want to do a truck load.’” He explained to her, he meant a box truck full of toys.
Amy was shocked, but agreed to help.
“That’s a kind heart, right there,” she said.
The effort took them a year, but they managed to fund raise roughly $4,000 to purchase toys.
The people of Preble County and the surrounding area were willing to donate and help out.
“Within an hour of me posting that he wanted to do a truckload of toys, I had people coming up to me at the ball park bringing me toys already,” Amy said.
“We had a lot of companies, a lot of small businesses, and some small groups of people donate toys and money. It started out amazing during the summer time, and it just ended miraculously.”
Ty’s father shared, “I was very proud of him, for wanting to help someone who doesn’t have the chance to be home for the holidays. I was very proud of all the families who stepped up and helped as well.”
Amy and Christian Fugate, like their son, believe this will bring a lot of joy to the children at Children’s Hospital. But Ty is not finished yet.
“He has plans to do this again next year,” Amy said.
The family intends to take a short break and begin working on next year’s wish over the upcoming summer.
