8-year-old decides to share birthday
Foster kids benefit from big-hearted wish
Parents by Choice Executive Director Tony Yadon, right, show bags given to foster children to Tyler Napier, 8, left, and Tyler’s mom, Donna Postier. Napier’s $150 donation may be used for bags at Parents by Choice, a service for foster children.CALIXTRO ROMIAS/The Record
STOCKTON - Tyler Napier, under normal circumstances, would have spent Monday morning running through his house shooting the brand-new Nerf Blaster he received on his June 4 birthday.
Instead, there is no Nerf Blaster, and the 8-year-old Beckman Elementary School student spent Monday morning in the office of the nonprofit Parents by Choice organization, donating $150 that came to him on his birthday.
"It was a very humbling experience, because this young man has done a very generous deed," said Tony Yadon, the foster-parenting organization's executive director.
Parents by Choice is an organization that works with foster children and foster parents. It helps train foster parents to create a loving family environment, Yadon said.
Tyler said he wanted to donate his birthday gifts to help foster children. Turns out, his birthday money should help 60 to 70 of them. The $150 will pay for duffel bags filled with some personal items - toiletries, a toy or two and a blanket.
Yadon said the duffel bags are an important item for children his group works with. Many children come to them with nothing but the clothes they have on.
"A lot of the kids that come to us don't have anything of their own. To us, it's really important that they get something that is theirs," Yadon said. "They take the duffel bag with them, and it stays with them."
Tyler's mother, Donna Postier, said her son was not prodded by an adult to ask for cash in lieu of birthday presents this year.
"He saw something on the Disney Channel where a girl collected shoes to donate to foster kids," Postier said. "He said he really wanted to do something like that."
So, Postier started posting her son's idea on Facebook and the response from her friends and family was immediately positive. Gifts ranging from $5 to $20 started coming in for Tyler.
Even though it's not the Nerf Blaster he would have wanted otherwise, Tyler said he will always remember his 8th birthday.
"It made me feel really good," Tyler said. "I wanted to help some other kids."
Contact reporter Keith Reid at (209) 546-8257 or kreid@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/lodiblog.
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