{"id":1158600,"date":"2021-12-26T20:34:14","date_gmt":"2021-12-27T01:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1158600"},"modified":"2021-12-26T20:34:15","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T01:34:15","slug":"kentucky-veteran-gives-out-thousands-of-christmas-toys-to-children-impacted-by-tornadoes-storms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kentucky-veteran-gives-out-thousands-of-christmas-toys-to-children-impacted-by-tornadoes-storms\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Veteran Gives Out Thousands of Christmas Toys to Children Impacted by Tornadoes, Storms"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkentucky-veteran-gives-out-thousands-of-christmas-toys-to-children-impacted-by-tornadoes-storms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1158600&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/tornado-damage-kentucky-hugging-getty-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">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\u2019s heartland just over two weeks ago.<\/p>\n<p>Immediately after the devastation in Mayfield, veteran Shawn Triplett, 38, <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/kentucky-man-raises-thousands-delivers-toys-storm-victims\/story?id=81922955&amp;cid=social_twitter_abcn\">rushed<\/a> to town to see how he could be of service to others, according to ABC News.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><span class=\"s2\">\u201cI\u2019ve been deployed three times, and I\u2019ve seen the worst,\u201d Triplett said. \u201cIt was just absolute war zone destruction everywhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Triplett captured the destruction in an eerie photograph of a destroyed Mayfield movie theater. The photograph gained national attention.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Please take a moment to check out my go fund me. We\u2019re raising money to buy toys that lost everything in the tornado. They lost their Christmas and I\u2019m fighting to give it back. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/braGFpCYZD\">https:\/\/t.co\/braGFpCYZD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u2b50Shawn Triplett\u2b50\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@thedudeknows) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thedudeknows\/status\/1470919855138390023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span class=\"s2\">While helping out recently at a church shelter, Triplett overheard a conversation that deeply saddened him.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s2\">\u201cI saw a child, no older than 6 years old, crying in his mother\u2019s arms. She was crying too, but you could tell she was doing her best to look strong,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/human-interest\/kentucky-man-helps-buy-holiday-presents-for-kids-impacted-by-tornadoes\/\">told<\/a> <em>People Magazine<\/em>. \u201cThe boy told his mom, \u2018I\u2019ve lost my Christmas.\u2019 It was at that moment that I broke down and had to walk outside.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s2\">Shawn took to social media to ask friends and family for donations so he could purchase Christmas presents for the impacted children and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/toys-for-kids-that-lost-everything-in-tornado?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&amp;utm_medium=copy_link_all&amp;utm_source=customer\">set<\/a> up a Go Fund Me page.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s2\">\u201cI was going to give them back their Christmas. That was my mission,\u201d he told <em>People<\/em>. \u201cThere 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s2\">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.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s really been pretty cool, because I don\u2019t really I don\u2019t speak Japanese or French, so I\u2019ve had to go use Google Translate to reply back to people and just thank them,\u201d Triplett told ABC.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The veteran partnered with a nearby Walmart, which gave him a 25 percent discount on purchases, according to <em>People<\/em>. He also put together a team of volunteers to ensure the children had a chance to unwrap the presents.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> \u201cThey probably wrapped close to 4,000 toys in three days,\u201d Triplett told ABC News. \u201cIt was an assembly line of epic proportions, and they were so good at it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> \u201cIf we can distract them from that trauma even for just a few hours, it can mean the world to them,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can have all this destruction all around them, but still find happiness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The veteran <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/kentucky-marine-raises-thousands-donates-christmas-surprise-storm-victims\">told<\/a> Fox News that \u201c1,200 families have been helped in some way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s2\">\u201cOur main event this past week cleaned us out thankfully,\u201d he said. \u201cAside from that I\u2019ve been doing secret Santa at the local Walmart letting parents load up shopping carts worth of toys for their kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He told Fox News he is still tallying the numbers, \u201c<\/span><span>but we\u2019re looking at around $145,000 spent at Walmart and another $300,000 in donated toys and bikes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u2019s heartland &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1158600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1158600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1158600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1158600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1158600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}