Kentucky Veteran Gives Out Thousands of Christmas Toys to Children Impacted by Tornadoes, Storms

A Marine Veteran from Mayfield, Kentucky, raised tens of thousands of dollars and bought Christmas presents for children impacted by the catastrophic storms and tornadoes that ripped through America’s heartland just over two weeks ago.

Immediately after the devastation in Mayfield, veteran Shawn Triplett, 38, rushed to town to see how he could be of service to others, according to ABC News.

“I’ve been deployed three times, and I’ve seen the worst,” Triplett said. “It was just absolute war zone destruction everywhere.”

Triplett captured the destruction in an eerie photograph of a destroyed Mayfield movie theater. The photograph gained national attention.

Please take a moment to check out my go fund me. We’re raising money to buy toys that lost everything in the tornado. They lost their Christmas and I’m fighting to give it back. https://t.co/braGFpCYZD

— 🇺🇸⭐Shawn Triplett⭐🇺🇸 (@thedudeknows) December 15, 2021

While helping out recently at a church shelter, Triplett overheard a conversation that deeply saddened him. 

“I saw a child, no older than 6 years old, crying in his mother’s arms. She was crying too, but you could tell she was doing her best to look strong,” he told People Magazine. “The boy told his mom, ‘I’ve lost my Christmas.’ It was at that moment that I broke down and had to walk outside.”

Shawn took to social media to ask friends and family for donations so he could purchase Christmas presents for the impacted children and set up a Go Fund Me page. 

“I was going to give them back their Christmas. That was my mission,” he told People. “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.”

Donors answered the call from all over the world, and in just over a week, his Go Fund Me page reached $95,000 in donations, according to ABC News. 

“It’s really been pretty cool, because I don’t really I don’t speak Japanese or French, so I’ve had to go use Google Translate to reply back to people and just thank them,” Triplett told ABC.

The veteran partnered with a nearby Walmart, which gave him a 25 percent discount on purchases, according to People. He also put together a team of volunteers to ensure the children had a chance to unwrap the presents. 

“They probably wrapped close to 4,000 toys in three days,” Triplett told ABC News. “It was an assembly line of epic proportions, and they were so good at it.”

As Christmas drew near, Triplett would put on his red suit and white beard and head out to distribute the presents. He estimated he and his team gave out 20,000 toys, according to ABC News. 

“If we can distract them from that trauma even for just a few hours, it can mean the world to them,” he said. “They can have all this destruction all around them, but still find happiness.”

The veteran told Fox News that “1,200 families have been helped in some way.”

“Our main event this past week cleaned us out thankfully,” he said. “Aside from that I’ve been doing secret Santa at the local Walmart letting parents load up shopping carts worth of toys for their kids.”

He told Fox News he is still tallying the numbers, “but we’re looking at around $145,000 spent at Walmart and another $300,000 in donated toys and bikes.”

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