Nonprofit sends toys to Georgia for orphan’s smile-generating mission

When Sun City Summerlin resident Rex Doty founded Toys 4 Smiles, a nonprofit that makes simple wooden cars for children in need, he had no idea the project would involve traveling 2,200 miles to visit a 6-year-old boy. But, on Oct. 8, that's just what he planned to do.

Much like the Toys 4 Smiles members, this particular 6-year-old — Jaden Hayes of Savannah, Ga. — is also handing out toys to anyone he sees who could use a smile. And these days, Jaden himself could use a smile. His father died when he was 4, and his mother died in her sleep in July. Jaden nows lives with his aunt, Barbara DiCola, who has custody of him. He told her he was tired of all the long faces and that he wanted to make people happy. So, he asked her to purchase little toys that he could hand out.

"Thirty one people sent me that link," Doty said of a Facebook video of Jaden's story from CBS News. "Because that's exactly what we do — make people smile. It's unbelievable. For years, I've been telling people that if they want to start doing something like this, it doesn't have to be (on the scale) of what we became. It can be very simple.

"Boy, Jaden sure put it in perspective," he added, shaking his head in wonder.

Doty was so touched by Jaden's effort that he immediately decided to go visit him in Georgia and bring him 100 Toys 4 Smiles vehicles to give away. Doty booked a flight and shipped a 30-pound box of toys via UPS to claim once he arrives.

"I'd like to ship him 100 toys a month," Doty said. "We could make it an ongoing thing."

At the time of the interview in late September, Jaden had already handed out 500 toys. Toys 4 Smiles, which produces between 3,000 and 6,000 toys a month, had handed out 226,556.

Toys 4 Smiles volunteer Lee Morton, who is nearing retirement, has volunteered with the nonprofit for two years. He said seeing the video of Jaden's story made him think it was too much for such a young child to experience, "losing both his parents like that."

"But then to turn around and decide that he had to do something to help (heal people), it's such a direct connection," he said. "Everything we do well, we focus just on the Las Vegas Valley, and for good reason. But we do try to give them to other areas. My sister (Stephanie Moriarty, a nurse practitioner) has personally carried some to India when she goes there for medical missions; some have gone to South America. People like to take these wherever they go because it's kind of neat to pass them out. … It kind of changes people's opinion of Las Vegas."

Toys 4 Smiles has another announcement: It is moving to a new, rent-free space at 4315 Dean Martin Drive thanks to a deal arranged by Realtor Mannie Makhathini of Realty Executives and Curtis Bunce of Diversified Real Estate Group.

For more information about Toys 4 Smiles, visit toys4smileslasvegas.org.

For the CBS News video about Jaden's story, visit tinyurl.com/pamzbd6.

— To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.