Shawn Triplett, who now works as a volunteer at a local elementary school, was recently helping out at a shelter when he witnessed a damaging interaction between a mom and her young child after they had been displaced by the tornadoes.
"I saw a child crying in his mother's arms. She was crying too, but you could tell she was doing her best to look strong, " he recalls. "The boy told his mom, ‘I've lost my Christmas.' It was at that moment that I broke down and had to walk outside."
After taking a night to think about how he could best help, Triplett decided to ask friends and family to donate money so he could buy toys for the children who were impacted.
"I was going to give them back their Christmas, " he explained. "There was so much support in the community for water, generators and food, but nobody was thinking about the kids. At least, not in the way it should be, so close to Christmas."
Triplett ended up launching a GoFundMe page to help purchase holiday gifts for the children, which quickly spread on social media. Since launching the page three days ago, he had raised over $44, 000. He also partnered with the local supermarket, which provided a 25% discount on all purchases for him.
While the toys were fully covered by the donors, Triplett said he had been footing the bill for wrapping paper. He planned to deliver the gifts in person in a Santa costume closer to Christmas. "We chose to wrap them so that the kids get the full experience of what Christmas should be, " he said. "We're doing everything we can to normalize a traumatic (创伤的) experience for them, even if just for a few hours."